A chara, - Fintan O'Toole asserts (Opinion, January 9th) that the Leaving Cert is "the one very important piece of machinery of the State" which has "remained tamper-proof". Further, he maintains that the examination is "the nearest thing this society gets to social justice".
Is he ignorant of the flourishing, predominantly non-union "grind schools", which invariably produce above-average Leaving Certificate results? Alternatively, perhaps access to these fee-paying institutes is just as attainable for the daughter of a semi-literate labourer from a "bleak, ugly, windswept housing estate" as it is for the "pampered son of the banker, the solicitor, the businessman." - Is mise,
Daithi O Deorain, Woodview Park, The Donahies, Dublin 13.