Sir, - Readers of Sean Flynn's article in your edition of August 18th ("Top marks to the class of 2001 for the way they overcame all hurdles to exams") might have forgotten that the dispute, which seriously disrupted the last school year, has ended.
Sadly, this is not the reality.
Despite the three-month window provided by the summer holidays, it would appear there is still no resolution to the thorny issues of supervision and substitution.
Surely it is high time for the Minister, his Department officials and the ASTI, TUI and INTO to engage in serious negotiations to resolve these issues for good.
They must do this now, before the schools reopen, to avoid further penalising next year's exam classes who have already suffered enough.
To allow these, or indeed any other issues, to disrupt another school year would indicate a callousness on the part of Government and unions which the electorate will not easily forget. - Yours, etc.,
Tony O Rourke, Moorhill, Naas, Co Kildare.