Dr. John Bosco Conama:

Let us consider the United Kingdom as a whole. Scotland is the only place that has an Act as such. The legislation is the British Sign Language (Scotland) Act and it exists in Scotland. In Northern Ireland, there was a verbal decree but it did not come with any legal obligation. I suppose it is something we cannot really look at as being enforceable.

In terms of making a difference, however, I believe Northern Ireland is a little better in terms of attitude, education and understanding. I assume there is some kind of influence back and forth between Scotland and Northern Ireland. There has been research and discussions in Stormont in terms of looking at moving things forward. I would love to see legislative recognition here because it is long overdue. If people think of us as members of Irish society, we have been here as long as Ireland has, so it is a long time without that recognition.