Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)

In view of the fact that the recent international student assessment shows literacy levels in Ireland have dropped catastrophically; that the biggest drop in literacy in any country since 2000 has been in Ireland; and that the same survey shows that one in six of our students has low literacy and that almost one in four males is not functionally literate, does the Tánaiste not agree that there is a need for a radical shake-up in education policy in terms of literacy resources given to primary and lower level secondary schools?

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