Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 292: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if she will give details of the trend in the numbers of pupils with reading problems in primary school and secondary school in each year since 1998. [23234/04]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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A national assessment of English reading at primary level which was carried out in March 2004 by the Educational Research Centre on behalf of my Department. The results of this survey will not be available until March 2005.

At post-primary level, the reading literacy of 15-year-old students was assessed in 2000 as part of the Programme for International Student Assessment, PISA. This programme was administered in 27 OECD countries. Ireland ranked fifth overall in terms of mean achievement with just one country, Finland, achieving a significantly higher mean score.

At the lowest level of proficiency — level 1 or below — Ireland had a relatively low percentage of students — 11% as opposed to the OECD average of 17.9%. Ireland participated in a second round of PISA during 2003 and the results of this will be released by the OECD on 7 December 2004.