Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Ms Mannion and all the officials. I will ask them a little more about a few areas. It is certainly positive to hear about the ISL bachelor of education professional qualification. I wish those four who have graduated the very best of luck. That is a landmark that cannot go unnoticed. We look forward to more people having the opportunity. The standard of new buildings now and universal design are also very welcome. Buildings are certainly far more appropriate and accessible than many of those in the past. I acknowledge the enhanced scheme of ISL provision and the roll-out of the new schemes. We are going in the right direction in trying to build capacity across the school community.

I am conscious, and it has been referred to a little, that other Departments, particularly the Departments of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, and Justice, are dealing with other elements. Sometimes, we have a siloed approach, which does not best help the individual and family. On building capacity, while I am conscious of the roll-out of new work within primary and secondary schools, in respect of lifelong learning, it is very important we have the opportunity for communities to learn ISL. I saw a fantastic example of that in Athy, County Kildare, where there is an excellent group, led by Ms Maggie Owens, who is a teacher in Holy Family School for the Deaf. What she has done cross-community and across ages, with young people, children and adults, is fantastic in using and encouraging sign language in a very cool way.

It is about that sort of culture of communities coming together. There is a role for the Department of Education in that lifelong education project and being able to focus on reaching out to communities.

Unfortunately, I was at another committee meeting during the first part of this session. However, at the meeting of the Joint Committee on Disability Matters last week, I heard some of the statements from the group. One of the areas of concern was the lack of data on how children who are deaf or hard of hearing are actually doing in schools, as regards how they are empowered, supported and succeeding in life. An evaluation of the available data is important. I would appreciate hearing any update the officials have on that.

What engagement is there between the Department of Education and the Irish Deaf Society, as a representative disabled people's organisation? That type of consultation work is very important both to the work being done in the Department and, more importantly, to the community.

I acknowledged that we have a new bachelor's degree, which is wonderful, but it is important there is an element of ISL, and support in that regard, in mainstream teacher training. Are there any plans to do that?