Minister for Education Mary Hanafin has rejected calls by some Fianna Fáil TDs to publish examination results for schools, on the grounds that it would create school league tables.
The Government-dominated Oireachtas Committee on Finance and the Public Service is expected to support publication when it publishes its findings on a review of the Freedom of Information Act.
The recommendation to publish results was originally made by Information Commissioner Emily O'Reilly, who has argued that it would give parents necessary information.
However, the committee, under Laois/Offaly TD Seán Fleming (FF), is unlikely to pick a fight with the Minister on the issue, who has repeatedly voiced her opposition to any such move.
Under the 1998 Education Act, she could allow the release of exam results that would allow school league tables to be compiled, but she has consistently refused to do so.
Instead, the Minister has supported the publication of Whole School Evaluation, which reviews all elements of a school's performance and which, the Department of Education believes, takes each school's specific circumstances into account.
