Education campaigners told the committee it’s a “sad indictment” of the system that some children must leave their own communities simply to learn how to read.
Children from South Kildare are travelling daily to Tallaght to attend a specialist school for pupils with dyslexia - because no such facility exists in their own county.
The issue was raised at an Oireachtas hearing by Sinn Féin Kildare South TD Shónagh Ní Raghallaigh, who said families are being forced to take their children out of local schools in search of proper literacy support.
Education campaigners told the committee it’s a “sad indictment” of the system that some children must leave their own communities simply to learn how to read.
CEO of Dyslexia Association of Ireland, Rosie Bissett, they said there are only a handful of so-called “reading schools” or classes across the country - and that the Department of Education has given "no mandate" for more to be established.
"There is a huge issue around equity of access to those schools because of geography. There are so many parts of the country where it is not an option, the distance is literally so great, you cannot do it. Having said that, we think it is a sad indictment of our education system that you have to go to another school to learn how to read. That should be fundamental to how we teach our young people," Ms Bissett said.
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