18 March 2001

---

Leaving Cert exams : Taoiseach must ensure not just actuality but quality and integrity

Sinn Fein has said that the Government should open peace talks with secondary teachers ``to save the Leaving Cert and ensure not just their actuality but the quality and integrity of their marking and standing''.

Sinn Fein spokesperson, South Dublin County Councillor Seán Crowe, said:

``It is no good the Government trying to steam-roller the Leaving Cert through without any thought for what this will do to relations with teachers after the dispute, the future of the education system and the well-being and careers of students facing into exams.

``The way the Leaving Cert takes place has huge implications not just for the reputations of the Taoiseach and Education Minister Michael Woods but for the lives and careers of students.

``Is the Government serious about resolving this dispute or more interested in showing that it's the toughest kid in the playground?''

ENDS

---

Sinn Fein Press Office, 44 Parnell Square, Dublin 1
Tel: +353-1-8726100 and +353-1-8726839   ·   Fax +353-1-8733074
E-mail: sinnfein@irlnet.com   ·   Website: http://www.sinnfein.org

---

Sinn Fein   ·   Sinn Fein Documents

---