Special Educational Needs
Seanad Éireann — 2026-02-25
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Teresa Costello (FF), Agricultural Panel

I have spoken to the children, who have a lived experience and are saying they need more reading schools. I am not happy with the answer, if I am being honest. This is about two years of children's lives and getting them on the right road so that things can be turned around. I am dealing with one child who is under the second percentile, cannot get a place in a reading school and is getting slagged in the mainstream school. It is not good enough.
Everybody's situation is different and requires a different approach. If we are coming from a base where, as the Minister of State said, the special schools were set up at a time when there were no other supports, then we need to get more schools now. We are at a place where there is no additional support if, for example, 120 people are applying for a school in Tallaght and only 30 are getting in. These are children who, for two years of their school lives, could be focused on and set up for secondary school without being slagged for being stupid. They are being called stupid by their peers. Kids do not understand.
I will pursue this further. I thank the Minister of State for coming in today, but I would like it to be relayed to the Minister that I am not happy with the response and I feel that we are really letting down children with dyslexia.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-02-25/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:41+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-02-25