Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Tuesday, 23 May 2023
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills
Education Needs of Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Students: Discussion
Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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I welcome Mr. Geary. We bumped into each other on the train on the way up but we did not brief each other beforehand, I promise. I echo previous speakers' sentiments about the work Mr. Geary has done. He should not have had to do it and we have always told him that. It has been a long campaign but ultimately he was vindicated and that needs to be acknowledged. I have a few quick questions; I prefer to hear from Mr. Geary than listen to myself.
He spoke about in-class tutors and adviser roles. That is something we have long fought hard for. How many of those positions have been advertised, successfully filled or have failed to be filled up to now? That is also in the context of his own situation. Second, can he highlight the difficulties in getting staff, or at least, adequately trained staff? Mr. Geary mention remuneration. Will he expand on that? I welcome that this is being broadcast with Irish Sign Language for people at home. Can Mr. Geary give an example of how many people need to be trained to satisfy the demand out there? Finally, I want to ask about Calum himself. We have a picture of what his education is like now. Mr. Geary said it is in quite a good position at the moment; will he give us an example of what it was like before those interventions? If the roles we are talking about were filled, what should his education look like in terms of additional resources?