Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

On education, there was some good and some not-so-good news in the past 24 hours. The not-so-good news is the delay in publishing the junior certificate results. Many students did not go into transition year but went on to start the leaving certificate cycle. They will have been three to four months into the first year of a two-year cycle before they have the results of the junior certificate. We have heard the excuses and the reasons but they are still not good enough. For young people to do an exam in early June and not get the results until towards the end of November is really not acceptable and it should never happen again. It is happening now and there is not a lot we can do about it but it should never happen again.

On the good news, I have been campaigning for some time in this House and have met Ministers and spoken publically about the need for the leaving certificate papers to be accessible to people with print disabilities. They need the papers to be digitally accessible. It was announced yesterday that the papers would be digitally accessible to the blind and visually impaired community. I want clarification as to whether this will be for all people with print disabilities, as it should be. This country is an outlier when it comes to State examination papers being accessible to people with print disabilities. For many years, they have been accessible in most other European countries so that people who use laptops, iPads and other forms of technology can access their examination papers and enlarge the print with their fingers or with whatever low-vision aids they need. It is very positive that in June 2023, this facility will be available to people with vision impairments in this country. It should have happened a long time ago but it is welcome that it has happened. I commend the Minister for Education, Deputy Foley and the Minister for State, Deputy Madigan, on making it happen because I certainly annoyed them over the last number of months in particular to make this happen. I want to commend Féach, the organisation that represents parents of young people with vision impairments, on its campaigning on this issue and making it happen as well.