There is "no system of accountability whatsoever" in Irish education at present, Fine Gael has claimed.
The party was reacting to last week's High Court judgment which stopped three newspapers from obtaining Leaving Cert results for 1998 and compiling them in league tables.
Fine Gael said the judgment, which overturned an earlier decision by the Information Commissioner, Mr Kevin Murphy, "buried the idea of media-driven school league tables".
Its director of policy and former education spokesman, Mr Richard Bruton, said while few in education would shed a tear about this, getting information about schools remained a problem.
"Ireland has no system of accountability whatsoever; this results in a situation where Government has no systematic information on the success of its schools. Policies continue with little idea of their impact."
He said little information was available on the quality of teaching or school management. "Certainly these cannot be reduced to the single yardstick of exam results. However, it would be only an ostrich that would suggest that abandoning all forms of comparative performance measurement is the best way to promote excellence," he said.
"It would be equally absurd to suggest that exam results are an irrelevant measure of a school's performance. How can it be argued that exams should be the sole test of a pupil's performance but an irrelevant test for the school?"
He said information which put exam performance into a "broader context of assessment" was needed.
"The central instrument of school assessment should be the school plan and the associated annual report of progress which is openly published by the school."
Mr Bruton said a "school improvement policy" was needed and its objectives should be:
Improving literacy and numeracy of weakest pupils;
Developing the potential of pupils with special needs;
Achieving high standards in all core subjects;
Developing the skill base of those involved in the school;
Developing the personal and social capacity of all pupils.
The Kerryman, Sunday Tribune and Sunday Times newspapers had sought the Leaving Cert results in 1998 but were denied by the Department of Education.
On appeal to Mr Murphy, the Department's refusal was overturned. However, last week the High Court found that Mr Murphy erred in law because the Education Act of 1998 did not allow the publication of school league tables.
Teacher unions and parents' groups at post-primary have come out against the tables but the National Parents' Council (Primary) supports them.