Education minister Batt O'Keeffe's much-publicised report into grade inflation in the education system failed to examine whether it has become easier for third-level students to pass their degrees over the past 10 years, the Sunday Tribune has learned.

The review of grading trends also did not analyse the rates of second- and third-class honours awarded by third-level colleges over the past 10 years, but focused instead only on the number of 'firsts' handed out by colleges.

Campaigners say that without this type of analysis, O'Keeffe and his officials are effectively "clueless" about the true extent of grade inflation.

Despite this, the minister proceeded to outline his thoughts on the topic of grade inflation when he presented the key findings of the report in the Dáil earlier this month.

The report revealed that the percentage of university graduates getting a first-class honours degree almost doubled to 16% between 1997 and 2008

It also contains reams of unaggregated raw data across third-level colleges for 2008, broken down by grade of award. But unlike the information on the number of 'firsts' compiled by the department, no comparative data for grades was provided to the minister for the preceding years.

This means he could not see how the percentage of students who passed or failed their degrees, or who obtained second- or third-class degrees, has changed in the past 10 years.

The department's analysis also failed to break down the number of As, Bs and other grades awarded to Leaving Certificate students according to individual subjects.

Simon Quinn, a member of the Network for Irish Educational Standards, which has campaigned to highlight the problem of grade inflation, said the full report was "extraordinarily weak" in its scope. "I don't see any evidence of substantial action in this paper. I think the minister was trying to give an impression that he had made some response to the concerns of multinationals. But what he has done is an utter whitewash," he said.