MS Niamh Bhreathnach has been accused of reneging on commitments to appoint an independent chairperson without preconditions to help resolve a dispute over Leaving Certificate results at a Dundalk school.
The Fianna Fail spokesman on education, Mr Micheal Martin, made the accusation yesterday after the Coadjutor Archbishop of Armagh, Dr Sean Brady, was named as an intermediary. He will chair meetings between representatives of the Department and St Mary's Marist secondary school.
The meetings will consider parents' claims that up to 80 students received lower than expected grades in English. They say 72 of the students received a C3 or a D, with the highest mark awarded a B2, and that these results were contrary to previous performance.
Eighteen scripts which were the subject of appeals have been rechecked by the Department of Education three times but have not been found to merit upgrades. A delay of three months in communicating the results of the second recheck to parents was described as "unfortunate" by the Minister.
Mr Martin criticised the Minister's decision not to allow a comparison to be made between three of the rechecked scripts and three scripts not rechecked.
Mr Martin said that the parents and students involved had been treated in an "appalling manner" from the beginning of the dispute.
"The independent chairperson should be given full authority to resolve this issue", he said. "He should be allowed to convene a meeting between all parties involved without preconditions and to determine a sensible course of action for all sides to follow."