Tim Lombard (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge and welcome our distinguished guests in the Gallery. It is great to have them here and they did a wonderful interview on the radio this morning. I congratulate them and they are more than welcome.

I will address a theme that the Leader and the Leas-Chathaoirleach are well aware of and that I have often spoken about, that is, dyslexia services. We have an issue in that many schools are doing something called Drumcondra tests, which most Members are aware of. That basically means that the end-of-year assessments go to the Department. Many students use technology to help them read, particularly in subjects like English, but more importantly at times, for mathematics as well. We have some schools that do not know whether or not the technology should be allowed for those Drumcondra tests are not.

I was contacted by a woman during the week who informed me that her child's school's proposal is to do two exams, one with the technology and one without it, and that they would then see where her daughter is after that. I had another lady on to me in the last half an hour and the technology was just taken away from her child for the exams. There is an awful lot happening here and it is not just the mental stress of it but there is a lack of policy from the Department. The Department does not know how to deal with technology and it does not know where it is appropriate and where it is not. If anything, it is putting its head in the sand for the last three or four years and it has not come forward.

I have continually raised this issue and we need to get clarification when it comes to these State exams for primary school students who are using technology every day of the week. Can they use it for their State exams in these Drumcondra tests? To me, it is like taking glasses away from a person who needs them to read and making them do an exam.It is appalling and is causing such stress on the children and families and, in some regards, on the teachers also, who are completely frustrated by the lack of direction from the Department.

I ask the Leader to write to the Department of Education to bring clarity to this issue and to give direction to the principals of the primary schools of Ireland because at the moment, 10% of our primary school population have no direction on this issue. Our students, parents and teachers are exasperated by the lack of such clarity. I thank the Leas-Chathaoirleach.