Results 261-280 of 2,691 for speaker:Tim Lombard

Seanad: Employment Permits Bill 2022: Committee Stage (22 May 2024)

Tim Lombard: This is important legislation and progressing it through the House has to be a priority. Slightly off the topic, I want to ask the Minister of State's view of the process of how applications are made. People pay an application fee but if the country the applicant is coming from is ruled out, the ability of the applicant to get a refund on the application becomes a problem. I know of a...

Committee on Public Petitions: Reasonable Accommodation for Dyslexic Students in State Examinations: Discussion (16 May 2024)

Tim Lombard: I welcome the witnesses. It is important that we have this debate and have clarity regarding what we are talking about. Approximately 136,000 students will be sitting the junior certificate and leaving certificate examinations this year. If we look at the statistics, 10% of those students are dyslexic. That is the cohort of people who are affected in the system today. That amounts, one...

Committee on Public Petitions: Reasonable Accommodation for Dyslexic Students in State Examinations: Discussion (16 May 2024)

Tim Lombard: We could argue there is an advantage now for children who are not dyslexic. They can process things faster.

Committee on Public Petitions: Reasonable Accommodation for Dyslexic Students in State Examinations: Discussion (16 May 2024)

Tim Lombard: The unfairness is not to the majority but to the minority, when we take into account that 10% of students are dyslexic.

Committee on Public Petitions: Reasonable Accommodation for Dyslexic Students in State Examinations: Discussion (16 May 2024)

Tim Lombard: Ms Feeney can see how people would be offended.

Committee on Public Petitions: Reasonable Accommodation for Dyslexic Students in State Examinations: Discussion (16 May 2024)

Tim Lombard: Why are we out of sync with the European and third level models?

Committee on Public Petitions: Reasonable Accommodation for Dyslexic Students in State Examinations: Discussion (16 May 2024)

Tim Lombard: We do not seem to get complaints regarding the ability of third level institutions to interact with dyslexic kids. In fact, we hear great compliments for how they interact.

Committee on Public Petitions: Reasonable Accommodation for Dyslexic Students in State Examinations: Discussion (16 May 2024)

Tim Lombard: A person probably does not get the confirmation of access for the junior certificate until third year. Is that true?

Committee on Public Petitions: Reasonable Accommodation for Dyslexic Students in State Examinations: Discussion (16 May 2024)

Tim Lombard: A person probably does not get the accommodation granted until he or she has started third year.

Committee on Public Petitions: Reasonable Accommodation for Dyslexic Students in State Examinations: Discussion (16 May 2024)

Tim Lombard: I am going slightly off the topic but I just wish to clarify this. There could be a scenario where a child, who is going through first year and second year with a computer to help him or her with typing and whatever else, would still be slightly unsure of whether the actual accommodation would be granted until the process with the State Examinations Commission in third year.

Committee on Public Petitions: Reasonable Accommodation for Dyslexic Students in State Examinations: Discussion (16 May 2024)

Tim Lombard: And we see it.

Committee on Public Petitions: Reasonable Accommodation for Dyslexic Students in State Examinations: Discussion (16 May 2024)

Tim Lombard: There is an uncertain aspect, for obvious reasons-----

Committee on Public Petitions: Reasonable Accommodation for Dyslexic Students in State Examinations: Discussion (16 May 2024)

Tim Lombard: -----because the State Examinations Commission process does not start until third year. The child has spent the first two years of school going through a process and hoping he or she will get the accommodation but he or she does not get it until third year.

Committee on Public Petitions: Reasonable Accommodation for Dyslexic Students in State Examinations: Discussion (16 May 2024)

Tim Lombard: I agree.

Committee on Public Petitions: Reasonable Accommodation for Dyslexic Students in State Examinations: Discussion (16 May 2024)

Tim Lombard: It is about getting to third year. The cycle is out of sync.

Committee on Public Petitions: Reasonable Accommodation for Dyslexic Students in State Examinations: Discussion (16 May 2024)

Tim Lombard: Will Ms Feeney remind me what the four subjects are where additional time is granted?

Committee on Public Petitions: Reasonable Accommodation for Dyslexic Students in State Examinations: Discussion (16 May 2024)

Tim Lombard: If someone is a mathematics student and the terminology has been changed to make it wordier and if they go through the junior and leaving certificate examinations and are dyslexic and their ability to read the question is probably the biggest issue, they do not get extra time. I spoke about the project that was the runner up in the Young Scientist by a very capable young lady from Bandon who...

Committee on Public Petitions: Reasonable Accommodation for Dyslexic Students in State Examinations: Discussion (16 May 2024)

Tim Lombard: Has Ms Feeney seen the project?

Committee on Public Petitions: Reasonable Accommodation for Dyslexic Students in State Examinations: Discussion (16 May 2024)

Tim Lombard: That all takes time.

Committee on Public Petitions: Reasonable Accommodation for Dyslexic Students in State Examinations: Discussion (16 May 2024)

Tim Lombard: It all takes time for the process to happen. If someone has a reading pen or if someone can read it, there is a different time in terms of the actual exam. Kids are being taught how to work the reading pen more quickly. There is pressure on them to do it. It is a fantastic tool. I am not wronging the tool. It is a wonderful instrument but it is not as fast as a person who can read it...