Dr. John Bosco Conama:

I thank the committee and Chairman for the opportunity to be here this morning. It is quite a daunting experience to appear before a joint committee of our national Parliament and we thought long and hard about how we would prepare for this meeting. We looked at the Oireachtas website but found it difficult to find accessible committee information. We do not even have full access to the Parliament itself. I know that Senators and Deputies generally prefer communication by phone but that is also a struggle for us. I thought it important to say that before addressing the main subject of this meeting.

The recognition of Irish Sign Language can affect people at a personal level right up to State level. In terms of access to health services, for example, if there are no qualified interpreters available, people may be relying on family members to avail of health services. In some instances, they may seek services of a sensitive nature about which they do not want their families to know. At a State level, while there is some access to interpretation in criminal cases, in civil cases such access often depends on the goodwill of the presiding judge. Often deaf people find themselves paying for interpretation in civil court cases. It would be great to be able to give the committee an understanding of the depth of experiences but I will try to be as concise as possible this morning.

Historically, there has been a negative attitude towards the use of sign language in Ireland. Families were advised by health care professionals to avoid signing to people who were born deaf and to focus instead on written communication or speech. That would have been the experience of many families throughout the country. However, Irish Sign Language is such an expressive and a beautiful language which could greatly enhance family life. That was my own experience and while I get on very well with my family, I still meet family members who do not believe in the idea of signing early. They still think that it should not be implemented straight away with deaf children.

Before this meeting began, we were discussing incidental knowledge.

I was told by a person over the age of 60 years that he suffered a heart attack. He had no idea that there was a family history of cardiac conditions. His family were not communicating with him through Irish Sign Language and because of that, he was missing out on shared information. We have been working with Senator Mark Daly to try to look at ways to progress recognition of Irish Sign Language, so that professionals and families will actually see the value of having the language. Sometimes it is seen as a language that is just tolerated and is not properly recognised as being a basic right.