Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

All international evidence is pointing to this approach. I would be happy to forward supporting information to the joint committee. I have no problem doing that. I alluded to the report from 2014, which stated:

Clear international evidence exists of a gender imbalance in the incidence of disabilities, special education enrolments and academic achievement (OECD, 2003, Mitchell, 2010, Banks & McCoy, 2011). Since the 1960s, the overall male to female ratio in special education has been 2:1 to 3:1. Reviews of US literature show boys predominating in every disability category except for deaf/blindness.

Times change, things change and statistics change. However, I am happy to go back to the NCSE to see if there is any evidence pointing to changes in the incidence in the context of boys and girls. At the moment, it is definitely pointing towards more incidence among boys than girls.

See this speech in context