Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Pablo Picasso, Leonardo da Vinci, Michael Heseltine, Agatha Christie, John Lennon, Whoopi Goldberg, Albert Einstein and Noel Gallagher are the names that I got this evening of people who have or had dyslexia. As many Senators have pointed out, dyslexia is not a lack of intelligence or, as Senator Boyhan said, an impediment to not just progressing in life, but also achieving extraordinary things. It was wonderful to hear the Senators' contributions, which will help me as Minister of State with responsibility for special education. I met the Dyslexia Association of Ireland with Senator Lombard last year. That was helpful for me as well. The Department gives funding to the association, which is important.

Dyslexia is high incidence and low impact. Many children around the country have dyslexia. It is predominantly in the mainstream that we cater for children with dyslexia through special education teachers, SETs, and SNAs. There would be no need for children to go to special classes or special schools unless they had another diagnosis, for example, autism.

Some of the points made during this debate struck me, for example, those about early intervention and teacher training. Senators Lombard, Maria Byrne, Warfield, O'Loughlin, Dolan, Boyhan and Carrigy mentioned teacher training as an important issue. I wrote down "not a lack of intelligence", which is something that Senator Seery Kearney mentioned. Senator Murphy referred to how dyslexia was hidden, which is true. We are breaking down those barriers. Even having this discussion is important, in that it puts a spotlight on the matter. We do not have children at the "back of the class" anymore. SNAs are helping in that regard.

Giving the children confidence was mentioned as well. We want to ensure that they do not lack confidence as a result of having dyslexia.

The funding for the assistive technology scheme is important. Technology is important and we saw the divide during the pandemic. We will have to put more funding into technology in the future.All these tools are vital.

Senator Currie mentioned a dyslexic group in Dublin 15. It is great that a new group has formed and that there are support groups. Some Members mentioned other matters separate from dyslexia and I come back to them on all of those.

It is important to note the inspectorate is ensuring policy in the area of special education, including in the area of dyslexia, in respect of reading supports will be reviewed to ensure it is meeting the needs of young people. That is good for the Members to know. It does that on an ongoing basis and will continue to do that.

I am always interested in hearing the views of public representatives. They know their constituents, schools, teachers, staff, families and parents. They meet them all the time. I cannot change things for the better or help ameliorate policy or change the way policy is going unless I hear from them on different matters. They have given me most of those this evening. The school inclusion model was mentioned and it will be critical.

I am in the middle of budget negotiations for my Department. We had a budget of €2 billion last year, which represented a 50% increase since 2011. It is a massive increase but that was coming from a low base. There are two sides to that. The fact we have more diagnoses means we have more children to look after and it is good they are being diagnosed in the first instance. For dyslexia in particular, a diagnosis is not needed to access an SNA or a special education teacher in mainstream education. That is important. It is always available for the child. It is important to keep those children as inclusively integrated into the classroom as possible rather than having them going in and out all the time.

The Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act is 17 years old. I am committed to reviewing it. When I undertake that review, it will show the direction of travel for the future. The needs of children are changing all the time as we evolve. Technology came to the fore here this evening and it will change again in 20 years. We do not know what other initiatives or inventions there will be by then. Therefore, we must make sure we amend our legislation when we need to. The fact that 10% of the population is affected by dyslexia is significant. Early intervention is critical. I speak to the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, and the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, on an ongoing basis about that and about issues such as waiting lists, assessments and making sure children gain those supports if and when they need them.