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A LEAVING CERT student home-schooled by his mother has won his High Court challenge against the Minister for Education’s decision to exclude him from the calculated grades process.
Elijah Burke had claimed the exclusion of students that were tutored by a parent or close relative at home from the calculated grades process breached his rights and was unfair and discriminatory and that he was being punished for being home schooled.
He claimed that as a result of the State’s decision he would not be able to progress to third-level education for at least another year.
In a significant judgement delivered this morning, Mr Justice Charles Meenan held that so much of the calculated grade system that provides for the giving of estimated percentage marks that excludes home schooled students on the grounds that his teacher has a conflict of interest was “irrational, unreasonable and unlawful”.
The judge said the minister had refused to give Elijah a calculated grade for each of the nine subjects he has studied because he had been taught by his mother Martina Burke, who is a qualified teacher, which was deemed to be a conflict of interest.
The court noted that a system was in place in schools to deal with scenarios where a Leaving Cert student has been taught by a parent or close relative.
“I am satisfied that a non-conflicted or independent teacher or teachers ought to be involved in the place of Elijah’s mother in the system for the award of the estimated mark in each of the teen’s Leaving Certificate subjects.”
Should it be possible to award the student marks, the process set out in by Department of Educations for the awarding of calculated grades out of school learners can operate for Elijah, the judge added.
The judge said his decision was not based on any achievements obtained by Elijah or his siblings. Such matters, he said, were irrelevant to his decision.
He said he based his decision on what the court believes are the correct legal principles, and the decision is applicable to all students who find themselves in the same situation as Elijah, irrespective of the achievements of abilities.
During the hearing the court heard that approximately 10 other students were in the same situation as Elijah.
The judge said he was satisfied to quash the minister’s refusal to provide Elijah with a calculated grade.
The judge also said he was satisfied to make a declaration that the refusal to provide Elijah with a calculated grade in circumstances where the teen had been home schooled by a parent, and thus had a conflict of interest, was arbitrary, unfair, unreasonable and contrary to law.
Elijah, represented by Paul O Higgins SC and Brendan Hennessy Bl, instructed by solicitor Eileen McCabe, has applied to do a degree in either Biomedical Sciences or History with Music at NUI Galway.
The 18-year-old from Cloonsunna, Castlebar in Mayo, is one of 10 siblings who have all been educated at home by their mother who have all excelled academically.
Elijah claimed the minister acted unlawfully in failing to have in place a process for receiving and determining applications for calculated grades for pupils who are home schooled by a relative.
He brought judicial review proceedings against the minister seeking various orders and reliefs after he was informed in mid-July that he would not be considered for a calculated grade because he had been tutored at home by his mother.
Opposing the application, the Department of Education argued that it was not possible to give Elijah a calculated grade for any of the nine subjects he has studied due to an absence of credible evidence from an appropriate source on which to base a grade.
This was because Martina Burke was in a position of direct conflict of interest and that accepting estimated marks from a family member would undermine the integrity and credibility of the process.
The state denied that his rights were breached and said that he could sit the Leaving Certificate in November.
The system had been brought in due to the global health emergency caused the Covid-19 pandemic.
It was also argued that there was a lack of credible, independent evidence upon which Elijah, who did not sit the Junior Certificate Examination, could be given a calculated grade.
The judgement was delivered by electronic means and final orders in the case will be mentioned before the court at a later date.
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It doesn’t look like the counting staff are following the 2 meter social distancing rule if the above photo is of the current count
@Ed Cotter: Foreshortening.
@Ed Cotter: It’s not the actual count…. It’s a picture from an agency… See the credit at bottom of pic.
@Jerriko17: it is the actual count
@Jerriko17: just because it is agency photo doesn’t mean it’s not the actual count. They say it’s the printworks and the count was moved there. Also looks like what was on RTE tv news.
@Ed Cotter: I finding it very hard to get excited about this seanad election I wonder why!
@Tom Malone: OK… Apologies!!!!
@John Buckley: OK… Apologies!!!!
@Tricia G: This comment typifies the low standards of debate in our society at present, instead of exchanging opinions backed by reasoning and facts, people merely indulge in name-calling and shunning those with opposing arguments.
What percentage of electors bothered voting or even received ballot papers. A joke. Retirement home for failed politicians at our expense.
@Valthebear: Which the public had the chance to abolish and bizarrely refused.
@Valthebear: Well neither I nor my husband received ballot papers, and we are both electors. Very dodgy!
@Zmeevo Libe: ditto. I probably wouldn’t have voted anyway, but this is first year they failed to arrive. Got a lot of annoying canvassing bumpf in the post though…
@Rochelle: aye.
@Valthebear: I also did not receive any postal ballot papers for the Seanad elections…my first time to be omitted also. Something smells tres dodgy
@Rochelle: Why bizarrely kept . If you understood the reason for it and what it does then you would understand why it exists.
Certain politicians wanted rid of it as it was doing its job perfectly as is required under the constitution.
Rónán Mullen out!
@Aisling: no one really cares one way or the other
@Valthebear: I do.
@Tricia G: So do I.
@Tricia G: a handful of people on the journal.. Hold the front page. Is it even trending on twitter.. Don’t see it. I’m sorry, when I say the likes of Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (‘wont bé kicking around in the Senate..’ ) Mickey D’ s daughter continuing the fine Irish tradition of nepotism after failing in the Euro elections, and a clatter of failed General Election candidates etc.. This is not what a supposed upper house should be for. We got none of the reform promised after the referendum. So, no, I think it is an utter irrelevance as constituted and merely serves as a sinecure for privileged members of the political class. Would imagine vast majority of country would agree
@The Risen: eh no. Link doesn’t work.
@Valthebear: I agree we got none of the reform promised and I would like to see it reformed. I believe we need a strong second house.
I also still want to see Ronan Mullan lose this election.
@Valthebear: Check out the meaning of nepotism before spouting rubbish.. The president had no influence on the election of his daughter. Just because people of the same family go into politics doesn’t make it nepotism.
@Valthebear: we should ..paid for out of your taxes
@Valthebear: It’s just another one of FGs failures. Enda wanted it gone when he didn’t get what he wanted he spat out the dummy and refused to reform the Seanad
@Jerriko17: you think? You seriously deny being the offspring of a well known politician doesn’t give one advantages when entering Irish politics? If so you must be seriously naive. It’s nepotism pure and simple, regardless of whether it’s FF, FG, or self styled ‘progressives’.
@Valthebear: Having a relative in politics and going for office yourself is not nepotism. You must be wearing a tin foil hat if you think Michael D would be so naive as to pull strings (I don’t even know how!!!!) to get a relative elected.
@Jerriko17: it’s not about pulling strings. It’s enjoying advantages that other less fortunate can never aspire too. It’s about moving in the same circles and being connected to the political classes.
@Pat Coyne: Rónán Mullan represents a Catholic Conservative ethos that belongs in 20th Century Ireland and is increasingly out of step with the country today. It surprised me that he was elected and I will be deeply disappointed if he is re-elected. UCD has a disturbingly strong and unified hard right faction, the same faction that led to the election of Katie Ascough.
Who cares ..
Maybe elites whom have a vote.
House is an absolute undemocratic joke..
@Willy Mc Entire: Sf voted against the abolition of the Senad a few years back
@Willy Mc Entire: Similar to your house of Lords.
@Patrick O Connell: I didn’t. The only vote as a taxpayer I had regards this undemocratic sideline for those voted out was to abolish it.
You and Val as true blueshirts emalgumating as one FFG see no wrong here ….
@Willy Mc Entire: No its not a joke
it pays big money and you will get a big pension
Lets have another vote
@Pat Coyne: Is that right Pat?
I wasn’t advocating for Ronan Mullin not to have the right to say what he believes. I actually support his right to say what he believes. It allows the rest of us to see him for exactly who he is.
I would even like to see him debate his ideas but instead he much prefers to pontificate to the media and imagine conspiracies to distract from his opinions (that, thankfully, have very little support in this country). That was his behaviour throughout the commission on Repealing the 8th. He couldn’t hold his own with the medical professionals so he and Mattie McGrath left the chamber and speechified to the media. It was an obvious ploy to try and distract from the sober and informed opinions coming from those that remained in the Chamber.
I do NOT want that man to be elected to the Seanad. His stance on just about everything utterly appals me and it would be my preference that he get no where near a position of government.
So yes, whilst I should probably not have called him a “dose” (even if it is my personal opinion of him) there is no debate on where he stands.
There is no middle ground we’re going to meet on.
So yes, again I’ll say “I just hoping that Ronan Mullan doesn’t get re-elected.”
Better now?
@Tricia G: I agree. I voted for almost everyone but him to try and get rid of Mullan.
Lisa Chambers!??…..Are they for real!? Seriously……..
@Gazza Lazza: unfortunately so
@Pat Coyne: And Pat do you think you are raising the standards of debate with your comment? It is quite obvious that @Tricia G is referring to Ronan Mullan”s Anti-Abortion stance.. He has been nothing but an antagonist to the women of this country… He feels he has a right as a man to express an opinion on what a woman can and cannot do with her body.
A home for failed politicians
Social distancing only relates to the normal folk
You know the ones left without jobs ,education for their children and broken promises from government that banks will help!!
The politicians still have jobs ,pensions and no problem spending borrowed money. Sure they won’t be around to have to pay it back in taxes.
Why are we not using their pension funds for the good of the country????
@Yasmin Hamid Khan: Overly dramatic.. We’re in the middle of a pandemic and there are thousands in the same boat. Every school in the country is closed and only essential workers should be leaving their homes. When this is all over it’ll get back to normal relatively quickly. The Govt HAVE to borrow money to keep the economy going in the meantime
@Pat Coyne: Debate is a democratic process, this election is not. Of course the citizens will mock and deride it, it’s been that way since Caligula made his horse a senator. It’s all part of a republic.
I hope that’s a stock photo!
I am glad Lisa Chambers has been elected to the Senate, she is an excellent debater and will contribute a lot to Irish politics, after narrowingly losing out on being re-elected to the Dail.
@Paul O’Sullivan: agreed! She comes across as a very competent and able politician. I was disappointed for her when she lost her seat.
@Paul O’Sullivan: is that the same Lisa Chambers
That spent years in the Dáil and couldn’t remember where her seat was when it came to voting.
@Pat Coyne: he wants to put the west back to the 50s with greenways.
@Daniel Howard: he has a right to be elected if he gets enough votes!!!!
Another trough to feed from…should be apologised
I’m in the strange position having 2 senate votes!
@Pat Coyne: Rónán Mullen’s right to free speech doesn’t infer a right to be elected to the Seanad.
Well done good and faithful servants! Come have another dig in the trough!!
@Jerriko17: I do not think a man like him or any man should be allowed to express an opinion that a woman that has been raped and impregnated as a result should be refused the right to terminate, because he thinks it is morally wrong… I am glad that at least the women of Ireland have at least that choice now, to carry and not be forced to carry or go to another country to deal with what must be a very lonely journey for any woman.
I’m shocked and appalled
@Paul O’Sullivan: i believe ronan mullen would say that abortion is wrong in all circumstances, not just the extreme & rare ones that are always trotted out. As for saying he cannot hold an opinion, thats just silly.
@Paul O’Sullivan: same right as you do to criticise him… It’s not illegal yet to express an opinion. If he gets elected… Dems the rules…. Suck it up.
Fine Gael’s John McGahon elected. The guy’s currently being prosecuted for assault, and then there’s also “the twix bar” incident.
Let’s see if the media gives him the same (completely necessary) scrutiny they give SInn Fein politicians. I wouldn’t count on it.
@: What’s the twix bar incident?
@ihcalaM:
He inserted a twix bar into an unconscious man’s a,n.u.s at a music festival. If it was a woman that would legally be considered r.a.p,e
Real charmer.
@Paul O’Sullivan: nothing to do with morals, your view, his view or my view….Termination after 12 weeks is not allowed, even for rape…That’s the law. Nothing stopping anyone campaigning for or against that and until the law is changed we have to live with it.
Really? I was quite impressed with his position on human trafficking, support for people with dementia and special needs education.
What the wonderful Sen Noone???
@IamSocrates: you seem to have a problem with catholics & conservatives. People are free to form their own opinions on religion & politics despite your misgivings. Nearly the entire political & media class in this country form an echo chamber of lefties & anyone who is right of centre is painted as a nazi or potential nazi.
I am at loss why is it mostly bformer TDs in the senate, it should be nurses, doctors, engineers, solicitors, accountants, chamber of commerce Representatives, trade unionists giving a different views on laws
@Des Groome: as opposed to narrow minded liberalism
Jobs for the boys and girls whom the full public decided weren’t upto the Dail
@Jerriko17: Am actually, terminations are allowed by law after 12 weeks.
@Tricia G:
I find all of your big words intimidating and offensive. Less of it.
@Tricia G: he is a dose of narrow minded conservatism yes.
have your say