Leaving Certificate 2020 Calculated Grades: Statements
Dail Éireann — 2020-10-01
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Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (SF), Cork South-Central

The key point of the question was not answered. The context was given and the structures that existed and the people who were responsible for testing was outlined but the Minister did not tell us whether the type of testing that should have been happening did happen. That is the key question that Deputy Barry was asking. There is a piece to this that I am not getting. In response to me earlier, the Minister, Deputy Ryan, said the flaws were spotted during the process of the leaving certificate applied. I am not sure why that was being processed at that stage given that the results were already out but perhaps it was appeals. The bit I am struggling with is that any formula of this kind should be tested numerous times. It should be run on a few sets of data. It is not complicated; there is a formula. For example, a small dataset of, say, a dozen, 20, 40 or more students, is run through the formula and one should know what the outcome is meant to be because one knows the inputs and outputs of the formula and the process that should happen. If it does not produce the results expected, one works back through the formula to identify the problem. That is what should have been happening. It is exactly the detailed walk-through that the Minister says has happened. Given the way that this transpired, it is obvious that was not happening during this process. Unless the Minister can tell me otherwise, it seems to me very plain that that type of testing during the development of this process, formula or code, was not taking place. What am I not getting?

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2020-10-01/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:48:38+00:00
Sitting date: 2020-10-01