“Many students facing into the Leaving Certificate exam in June 2022 are asking that they be given the option of accredited grades just like the last two exam classes,” local Independent Deputy Denis Naughten, has stated.
Deputy Naughten raised the issue on the floor of the Dáil with An Taoiseach last November after receiving a request to do so from a Roscommon Leaving Cert. student, who felt the class of 2022 have been completely forgotten by the Department of Education as it’s not recognising the true impact of Covid-19 on those who will sit the leaving cert in June 2022.
“Even though I raised this specific issue in the Dáil last May and received reassurances from the Minister for Education, students are very anxious about the forthcoming exams.
“This has now been compounded by the impact that the Omicron variant is having on exam students who will have to isolate as a result of the present surge of infection.
“I also raised these concerns directly with the Minister for Education who stated that “the State Examinations Commission will issue further details regarding the 2022 examinations, guided by prevailing public health advice. There will be further engagement with stakeholders, through the Advisory Group on Planning for the State Examinations, and with other stakeholders as appropriate, in advance of any detailed announcement”
“It is imperative that there is now a swift decision on the use of accredited grades for this year’s Leaving Certificate exams as students have enough to contend with, without having to worry about the format of the exam itself,” Deputy Naughten remarked.
End of year broadband target missed
Meanwhile, the National Broadband Plan is set to miss its revised target of 60,000 homes by the end of the year and instead will pass 35,000 homes by January 1, local Independent Deputy Naughten, has stated.
Responding to a Dáil question tabled by Denis Naughten, the Government admitted that just 35,000 homes will be passed by the end of the year and that somewhere between 50-60,000 homes will be passed or be able to pre-order broadband by the end of January.
“It is deeply disappointing that revised targets set just last September will not be reached by the end of December.
“In reality this means there is a further delay in the delivery of broadband to homes, which is now running 12 months behind target - six months more than was admitted to just last September.
“These delays are due, at least in part, to the failure of Government over the last two years to address bottlenecks within the planning and regulatory system.
“Just yesterday Minister Ossian Smyth sat down with the Chief Executives of eir and National Broadband Ireland to help address the delays in the build out of this vital infrastructural project. While this is very welcome, one has to ask the question why did we have to wait 25 months into the contract for this meeting to happen?
“Up to the signing of the broadband contract, the Mobile Phone & Broadband Taskforce specifically addressed key bottlenecks in the delivery of vital broadband infrastructure across the country, but it did not hold a single meeting after the contract with National Broadband Ireland (NBI ) was signed in November 2019 and this is at least one factor.
“I welcome the fact that the Government has now reversed this decision and has re-established the Taskforce, but this should not have taken two years for this to happen.
“In reality this means that 100,000 less homes will have access to the high-speed broadband network at the end of next year than was planned when the contract was signed in November 2019.”
“As a member of Cabinet, I chaired the Mobile Phone & Broadband Task Force to ensure the focus across both the public and private sector was to make things happen on the ground that would make a real difference.
“It is absolutely unacceptable that this Taskforce did not hold any meeting since the signing of the National Broadband Plan contract, and it is now clear that a multi-agency approach, led from the Cabinet table, is needed to get this project back on track and to fast-track the delivery of the most important infrastructure project of this generation.
“The current Programme for Government, published after Covid-19 hit, promised to fast track the delivery of high-speed broadband to every home in Ireland but all we have seen since then is hand-wringing and little in the way of action. In fact, the most significant step taken by this Government on broadband is to move responsibility for its delivery from the Cabinet table to Minister of State, Ossian Smyth, which sends out the wrong message across the public sector,” Deputy Naughten asserted.
