Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 2 October 2025

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Youth

Issues Affecting People with Dyslexia and Dyscalculia: Discussion

2:00 am

Ms Andrea Feeney:

Yes. The review kicked off in earnest in February, with the inaugural meeting of the steering group. The steering group has had six meetings since that time. As I mentioned, we made changes to the pilot scheme in the 2025 examinations in respect of additional time for students with visual impairments. We are committed to ensuring that changes can be implemented in an agile way without waiting for the very end of the review process.

Realistically, it will be a two- to three-year review process because there are things we are doing in the review that will take time, such as developments in different forms and versions of examination papers and other test instruments. Things we can deal with in a more iterative way we are committed to doing. As I said, we will put in place a pilot of additional time in some shape or form for the 2026 examinations. What that will look like and how many students will be impacted by that we do not know at this point in time because we need to do some further work and carry out engagement with stakeholders.