Sir, - Very often the national media berate politicians for not debating matters of importance. In the last Dail term Fine Gael put forward a very worthy private member's motion dealing with dyslexia and reading difficulties. This issue was debated in the Dail for three hours but received no coverage in the national media.
On August 23rd Dr Michael Woods TD, Minister for Education, issued a press statement announcing the setting-up of a task force on dyslexia. The group will commence their work in September and are due to report to the Minister in three months. This announcement received only minuscule coverage in one national newspaper.
Twenty-five per cent of adults have literacy difficulties a large percentage of which suffer from dyslexia. Successive Governments have failed to recognise this issue. Dr Woods should be complimented for taking this measure and hopefully many families will at last have a forum to articulate their concerns. Many individual politicians have pushed out the boat in this area over the last number of years.
I would hope that your newspaper would afford this subject the space and time it deserves in the months ahead. - Yours, etc.,
Billy Timmins TD (Fine Gael), Dail Eireann, Dublin 2.