Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

My first contact with the deaf community was through students of mine whose parents were profoundly deaf. That brought me into the deaf club which was then located at the top of Clonliffe Road. I have been to Deaf Village Ireland on Ratoath Road many times and I am well aware of the facilities and services available there.

I support equality of treatment for the deaf community. The 2009 NICE guideline for best practice, in line with international best practice, was to provide a profoundly deaf child with two cochlear implants. It is hard to see why this is not happening, especially when there is a time limit on when a cochlear implant can be successful.

The benefits to those children receiving two implants are well researched and documented. On a practical level, if a child has one implant but there is a problem with it and it has to be taken out, the consequences for the child are very severe in that he or she is left totally deaf for that time. Simultaneous implantation is the most efficient way forward, with both ears implanted in one surgical procedure. It is also cost effective to do so. Research indicates that bilaterally implanted children catch up with their hearing peers in terms of speech, language and communication skills much faster than unilaterally implanted children. They also do not need the same level of speech and language support and resource teaching as those children with only one implant.

The introduction and roll out of the national neonatal hearing screening programme means that deaf children are presenting earlier, which is a huge step forward. Providing two cochlear implants to these children would finish that work. I listened to the Minister this morning talking about the bank guarantee and what we have to pay. It is completely immoral and unethical for her to say that this is a Government priority and €12 million for deaf children is not. We saw what was spent on the Seanad referendum, which was totally unnecessary.

Finally, I wish to acknowledge the campaign to have Irish Sign Language recognised as the third indigenous language of this country because that is the language of so many deaf people.

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