An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business
Seanad Éireann — 2026-07-14
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Shane Curley (FF), Cultural and Educational Panel

I would also like to welcome former Senator Ned O'Sullivan who I see in the Gallery as well. He is very welcome. Tá fáilte roimhe. It is high time, in the next few months if at all possible; this side of Christmas in particular, to have a debate in the House with the Minister to urgently address the issue of extra time in exams for students with learning difficulties. In a very welcome move, the Minister gave an extra ten minutes across the board to every student with specified learning difficulties in this year's State exams, junior and leaving certificate. That is welcome. It is a good step in the right direction and it acknowledges the issue that exists, but it does not go far enough. Every expert I talk to tells me that. In the UK, if you have the same learning difficulties you get an extra 25% on the time limit of each exam. In Ireland, you get ten minutes even if the exam lasts three hours and 40 minutes in the case of the likes of English paper 2. In third level in Ireland, the lecturers who are currently carrying out a review on the process that was undertaken by the SEC give ten minutes per hour of an exam to their students. I have said this before in this House and I feel I am at risk of repeating myself ad nauseam , but it really needs to be looked at that we are now spending money as a State to pay lecturers to research what happened this year in the leaving certificate when those lecturers already give ten minutes per hour to students at third level with the same learning difficulties. I do not know why we have not just gone with their advice and done it as a cost-effective, research-led decision that could have been done instantly. Those review findings need to be urgently published to inform what will happen next year because it is pretty evident we need to expand on the ten minutes that was given this year.
Not alone is the leaving certificate itselt not fit for purpose as an exam in a modern society, but then time pressure is added on top of it for a whole host of students who cannot deal with that type of pressure. Their brains are not designed to process information under time pressure but we expect them to do it anyway. In a modern society, I do not think it is good enough and we need an urgent debate.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-07-14/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-27T06:52:15+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-07-14