Education Minister expected to recommend cancelling Leaving Cert

Senior Government sources say Minister for Education Joe McHugh will make a recommendation to Cabinet tomorrow to cancel this year's Leaving Certificate examinations.

A memo is to be brought to Cabinet tomorrow morning outlining possible alternatives to the exams.

It is understood that the memo is the product of detailed consideration which has been given to the matter over a number of weeks by the Department of Education. 

While the department had planned to hold the exams, the Minister made clear last week that officials in his department were looking at "all contingencies". 

It is just over a month since Taoiseach Leo Varadkar asserted the exams would go ahead "by hook or by crook".

Earlier, Mr Varadkar said that if the Leaving Cert exams are cancelled "we have to make sure that we put in place an alternative".

Speaking in the Dáil, he said it was "extremely difficult" to come up with an alternative that would be fair.

He said this was "the kind of work that is being done now at the moment involving the unions [and other parties] and that is going to be difficult".

He has said the issue of the Leaving Cert is one that the Government wants to bring to a conclusion this week

Source: RTE News.