Mr. John Sherwin:

There can be confusion about Lámh and Irish Sign Language. Lámh is not actually a language, but a communication tool, so in a sense, it is a lot simpler. It is worrying for us that people are being taught Lámh as a substitute for Irish Sign Language. There is a place for Lámh in terms of disability where children do not have the physical ability to sign or to use facial expressions and they are severely impacted by communication needs. Of course, there is a place for Lámh as a medically generated communication tool that has some basis in Irish Sign Language but there can be confusion in the community. It is not really appropriate to teach schoolchildren, for example, Lámh when they are well able to use Irish Sign Language, which is a full and communicative language.

We do not have a relationship with the Lámh organisation in order to try and resolve this and we do not see why this would not be declared for what it is, as a communication tool as opposed to a language. The two should be able to exist in appropriate settings. That is a little bit of a concern but I think the relative, simpler nature of Lámh probably has some advantages in terms of how quickly it can be supported by AI.