Eugene Murphy (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Like other political colleagues, I have been enlightened by listening to the witnesses this morning. I compliment each and every one of them for their presentations. To Mr. Gilvarry, all I can say is that was wonderful. I am not trying to pick out anybody over anybody else, but he did so well and I think everybody will agree with that. I thank everyone for making their comments today.

One thing that has always been a concern to me is the way we in this country have treated people with dyslexia. Many a person has had a sad life, sitting in the corner of their house and never getting out to a job because of the way society treated dyslexia. The reality is many people went to school and they could not do their books. Their teachers gave out to them. Their parents gave out to them. They were told they were lazy, that they did not want to work or to get on. The truth was, however, they had a problem with reading and writing. I am glad to see there is now more of a focus on dyslexia.

I would also like to see, now that we are putting so much emphasis on apprenticeships, that where there might be students who have dyslexia, it would be brought up by teachers, lecturers and politicians so that the issue of dyslexia would be on the programme and brought into the arena for discussion rather than people being frightened to talk about it. Having said that, I notice that parents and teachers are very good nowadays at establishing why a child might not like school or why he or she is afraid to speak. Sometimes it is an issue of dyslexia, but in the past it was treated in the wrong way. This is not to say all teachers and all parents did it. Many teachers spotted situations where the issue was that a person could not read or write properly.

We now have World Dyslexia Awareness Day. We have more discussion about it.

Some of the most intelligent people I have ever met are dyslexic. When I speak to groups, I sometimes give the example of when I had a summer job in my cousin's shop. A couple who used to come in would buy hardware, groceries and so on and they would pay by cheque. It was one of these country stores with everything. They used to ask me to fill out the cheque for them, with their name and the sum, and they would then sign it. You would not know from looking at how the signature had been scribbled that something was not right. It was only years later that I found out that dyslexia affected both of them, and they were two of the most intelligent people I have ever met, and very successful people.

Much has been said about education during this meeting. The same model of education does not fit every case. What level of engagement are our guests' groups having with the Department of Education? Is it an ongoing process? Are they fighting for more of something? If there is an ongoing discussion, is any progress being made? If we as politicians were to ask them for one quick change that could be made to address some of the problems they have highlighted, that is, if the Department could come on board and make one quick change, what would it be? What could be done quickly to improve matters?

I again thank our guests for a very good and important engagement.