Special Educational Needs
Dail Éireann — 2026-09-24
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Shane Moynihan (FF), Dublin Mid-West

I particularly thank the Minister for State for his acknowledgement of the need for reform in this area. That is a very welcome statement by him because I know of his personal interest in this matter and his personal commitment to the whole area of special education. I emphasise again that I am not doing down the amazing work that is done by front-line staff in our area but it is about making sure that the full gamut of tools is available to all those who are in area of dyslexia and assisting those with dyslexia. When I think of children who have severe dyslexia and the effective models the Minister of State has outlined in his reply around the reading schools and reading classes we have in place, we have a model in a box that we could roll out to other schools around the country. I know from having spoken to principals and teachers in my constituency that there is a willingness and an appetite to see these in place. They are little different from autism spectrum disorder, ASD, classes, in that it is a two-year programme of support that unlocks so much for the children who require this care. There is a willingness to learn about the approaches that are taken by groups like Crack the Code to the use of structural literacy to ensure our teacher training programmes reflect the need to make sure teachers feel equipped to identify dyslexia very early on, as well as by groups like Finding Charlie's Voice, which speaks about the co-occurrence of conditions such as autism, dyspraxia and dyslexia, to make sure our reading classes and the approach we take ensure that those with speech, communication and language difficulties are able to fully participate in the curriculum. The Minister of State quite rightly stated that inclusivity needed to be at the heart of our education system. Reading classes are a key way to enable that inclusivity because they provide tailored and strong support and allow those children to participate in mainstream education.
I look forward to working with the Minister of State on this. I thank him for his support on it, for meeting the various groups, and for his willingness to look at the reform that is needed to move forward.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-09-24/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:50+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-09-24