Ms Lianne Quigley:

We do have career guidance in the school but it is not specifically targeted towards employment and goals for careers. We need specialised career guidance counsellors. As Mr. Sherwin said, there are not enough ISL interpreters. There is no 24-hour emergency interpreting service available if a deaf person has to go to hospital. It boils down to an agency making contact with an interpreter and hoping somebody will answer the phone in the middle of the night. In the north west of Ireland there are very few interpreters. It is a high-risk area for deaf people to live if they have an emergency. With regard to education and employment, everything is impacted by the number of available interpreters. I would like to see more investment in ISL interpreter career engagement and advancement and employed positions.

How do we access interpreters with regard to self-employment? The Houses of the Oireachtas has employed interpreters. There are not enough employed in-house interpreters in other institutions or colleges. Examples of where they are include Trinity College and DCU. An example was given of a student who does not have access to an interpreter every day. This is because the college does not have the resources or has limited availability of interpreters in the particular area. As Mr. Sherwin said, in Finland the population of deaf people is similar to here but there is a higher number of interpreters. There needs to be more investment in interpreter training and in retaining interpreters in the career.