It’s easy to knock the Government now over the #LeavingCert2020 debacle but there’s a lesson here for us all in how political decisions are made. The previous government was pressured in a hasty cancellation of the exams by the vast majority of Opposition parties. 1/4

The exams were not cancelled on public health advice. It was a political decision made in the white heat of the first weeks of the coronavirus crisis. Two months ahead of the exams, SF & others were accusing the govt of creating anxiety for students & demanding "certainty". 2/4

FF crucially joined SocDems and SPBP in calling for the exams to be scrapped. Days later Joe McHugh relented. SF immediately welcomed the move. (In fairness to Labour, it had argued against “knee-jerk reactions without providing viable alternatives”.) https://www.rte.ie/news/coronavirus/2020/0502/1136247-education-leaving-cert/ 3/4

There were other factors at play, including Dept of Ed considerations surrounding the fairness of scaled down #LeavingCert exams vs calculated grades. But the whole episode does highlight the dangers of being led by whoever shouts the loudest. 4/4