08 Feb DAI Response to Oireachtas Committee Recommendations on Irish Exemption
The Dyslexia Association of Ireland is very disappointed with the recommendations set out in the report published yesterday (7th February 2024) by the Oireachtas Committee on the Irish Language, Gaeltacht and the Irish-speaking Community.
We are dismayed by the recommendations to abolish or drastically curtail access to the Exemption from Irish for children and young people who are dyslexic. As a reasonable accommodation that is often transformative for dyslexic children and young people, it is perplexing that the committee have suggested this element of choice with regards to their education be removed. It demonstrates a fundamental lack of understanding about the needs of dyslexic students, and also a lack of awareness of the legal requirements to make reasonable adjustments to meet their needs.
The Dyslexia Association of Ireland presented its views to the Committee on 12th October 2022 (transcript here). We are disappointed that the points that we raised in this meeting have not been sufficiently taken into account in this report or its recommendations.
We would agree that much more needs to be done to ensure that the teaching of reading and writing in Irish is more aligned to the evidence base from the Science of Reading, and that there is a well-recognised need for the provision of quality learning support for Irish to be made available to those students experiencing learning difficulties.
In terms of specific recommendations, the report repeatedly describes current eligibility criteria as ‘loose’. This suggests that the Committee do not seem to be fully cognisant of the very detailed criteria within Circular 0055/2022 that sets out clear requirements for post-primary schools to provide evidence of significant intervention and differentiated support, along with standardised test results evidencing the level of need, before an exemption can be considered.
Even more concerning is the recommendation to shift decision-making responsibility about Irish exemptions to educational psychologists working in NEPS (the National Educational Psychological Service). This is completely inconsistent with the positive recent trend of decisions around students with additional educational needs being devolved to school leadership teams (e.g. exam accommodations), recognising that schools know the needs of their students better over time, as opposed to a psychologist meeting a student once. The recommendation also demonstrates a lack of understanding of NEPS and its capacity to deliver on this recommendation.
In summary, the needs of the 10% of the Irish population who have dyslexia do not seem to meaningfully feature in the thinking of the Committee to the degree that we would be satisfied with. It seems that other ideological positions are prioritised ahead of the needs of those with recognised disabilities and neuro-divergent presentations and their right to reasonable accommodations. We would have expected better in 2024.
Footnotes:
It is very disappointing that many of our members and the wider public cannot access the Committee’s report, or even an executive summary of key recommendations, as it has not been made available in any format other than printed Irish. Once the Dyslexia Association of Ireland has had a chance to access and consider the report in full, a more detailed response will be issued.
See the Dyslexia Association of Ireland’s website and information videos for more information about the Irish Exemption.
See the Irish Times Article which reported on this issue.