Dr. John Bosco Conama:

Speaking about the number of students in schools, I would say around 80% to 90% of deaf children are in mainstream education. Fewer than 10% go to a deaf school. There are deaf schools in Dublin, Cork and Limerick. In those three schools, they do not provide a full curriculum through ISL - it is very much mixed through English and ISL. It is like a hybrid system between sign language and English in how the school teaches. In my time, there was a much larger number of students attending the deaf school in Dublin. It was a completely different world from what we have now. Elaine and I had the opportunity to learn sign language. I came from a hearing family. My family did not know anything about the deaf community or sign language. When I went to school, that is how I picked up sign language and the deaf culture. It was not a perfect system but at least it was something we had at that time, whereas when children are in mainstream education, how do they have the opportunity to develop that deaf culture and identity? That is something to consider. The National Council for Special Education Report, NCSE, report stated that there were roughly 5,000 visiting teachers for the deaf in 2021. I was quite surprised to see that number. I will ask Ms Grehan to comment.