Ms Elaine Grehan:

I would like to talk about community inclusion. Really meaningful interaction with government at a local or national level does not happen for the deaf community. Where we need to see changes is in Government and State organisations having inclusive consultative processes with DPOs on equality, services, strategic plans and projects. We need resources made available to us to allow us participate, contribute and advocate with the State. What happens if the consultative process is not complete is that we are limited and we see things set up. We then have additional barriers to face later on like with the railway station that was mentioned. I want to give a recent example of what can happen without community consultation. The Department of Education has just launched an ISL access plan for primary school children in school. This is fantastic. They consulted me and asked for my views on it, which was welcome, and which I gave. However, at the launch I saw that what I had offered in terms of consultation had not been taken on board. Their decisions had been made, and they made their announcement.

We have local deaf community groups scattered around Ireland that are not included at a local level in community decision-making because of lack of access and awareness. We are trying our best to connect with local government and communities, but without resources, that is very difficult. However, funding from Government would enable and empower us to participate at community and local level with county councils and so on. For example, recently we have had Ukrainian people come to live here, many of whom are deaf and are scattered around Ireland. They are also experiencing isolation. We have no resources to reach out to those deaf Ukrainians who came to live here, and to involve and include them. The multi-annual funding would be of tremendous help to DPOs in their service delivery.

Equality and disability is a huge issue and we can change that by creating inclusion at community level. We change attitudes that way. Recently the Irish Sign Language Act 2017 was passed, which has created a massive demand in providing equality to deaf people. However, we do not have the resources or office spaces. We do not have an office in every county in Ireland. It is time for the Government to support local DPOs and deaf organisations.