Tim Lombard (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

This afternoon I attended an interesting presentation in the audiovisual room from the Dyslexia Association of Ireland. I compliment the third level side. The accommodations made available are very helpful. Extra time and access to technology have been very helpful in third level. Unfortunately, coming down that pyramid, second and primary levels do not have the same access. We have a bizarre scenario where one gets extra time in third level for examinations but not for the leaving certificate or junior certificate. I cannot get my head around that. That is a huge issue. However, we need to acknowledge what we are doing well with universities.

I will twist the debate around to the grades issues we have seen over the past four years. We have walked ourselves up to the top of the hill regarding the graduated grades that have increased – the adjustments, as they have been called. They have been a significant issue with respect to points. We have had point inflation, to say the very least.

We have people taking up courses and drop-out rates off the back of it. People dropping out of courses who do not have the access or financial means to return should be looked at. It is a financial burden on the family and the individual. I do not know how we will achieve that but it is an issue.

Several parents have been in my office in the past few months where someone has probably gone through two years of college, dropped out for two years and are now going back. The financial implications are huge. It is an amazing amount of money that the family now has to pay. We need to look at options regarding this type of scenario. The finances are an impediment to these people getting a third level education. Some, rightly or wrongly, picked the wrong course on the CAO form. It is a daunting CAO form, to say the least. We have all been there. We do not know what is actually behind the courses half the time. When there is that scenario where someone makes a choice that does not suit them and they drop out 20 months later, the knock-on implication is that it will have a huge impact on their entire life.

We need to look at how grades were inflated over the past three or four years. We need a policy or platform in place going forward. This issue will have to be sorted out in time. It is probably not for the Minister in front of us now, but we need to make a statement at some stage regarding where we are going with our graduated grades. We have walked people up to the top of the hill. We have people with grades that are there for life and they might come back into the system at a different stage. Where do we go with them going forward? Will we always have graduated grades or will we change to a normal platform? I will be honest in that it is an awkward decision. We need to look at it, as well as the drop-out rates, because they are significant.