Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I agree with the Deputy and I agree with the concept of extra time. In fact, when I was Minister for Education and Science between 1997 and 2000, I introduced an extra half hour for dyslexia. At that time we did not have a State Examinations Commission, but then when I left education, it changed and they took it back again. They said some people were complaining it was too long for students, but a review should not take an inordinate length of time. I would say to the State Examinations Commission that sometimes it can be overly restrictive. We are losing a sense of perspective here with regard to students with additional needs or learning difficulties. I have had these rows on an ongoing basis. It really is an opportunity for a child or student to let the examiners know that the child or student understands the issues pertaining to the subject. Sometimes, I think we get it wrong.

I also remember, if I may say with a bit of levity, that there was a great third-level professor, Donnchadh Ó Corráin. I was studying hagiography. He came into us. There were only six of us since it was a specialist history subject. He said he was giving us the three questions we were going to be asked. We all looked at him in disbelief. He said he was not here to catch us out but he just wanted to give us an opportunity to show we understood what he had been teaching us for the past year and that we could articulate that. That has never left me through education and through learning.

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