Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I also commend members of my party, Fianna Fáil, in particular the former Senator, Labhrás Ó Murchú, Deputy Thomas Byrne and Senator Mark Daly, who played a very important role in bringing forward this issue in 2013 when they introduced the Irish Sign Language Bill in the Seanad. I commend them on doing that and I give particular credit to Senator Mark Daly for the very important driving role he has played in all this.

We cannot appreciate the difficult position in which members of the Irish deaf community find themselves unless we understand the importance of the right to communicate. Everyone in this House understands the importance of being able to communicate. We take it for granted. Sometimes when we are abroad in countries where we do not speak the language, we realise how helpless we become when we cannot communicate and find it difficult to be able to state to another person what we seek or what we are trying to say.

We need to recognise that this is a disability and a disadvantage that members of the Irish deaf community face continually as a result of the State's failure to ensure their right to communicate is properly vindicated. Every person in this country has a constitutional right to communicate. Members of the Irish deaf community have a right to communicate. We have to ensure this right means something. It is putting them in an impossible position unless the State makes strenuous efforts to ensure this right to communicate means something. We can achieve something for them by seeking to emphasise that right.

What is sought in the report produced by Deputy Ó Caoláin's committee is very limited. We want to ensure this State recognises Irish Sign Language. Although we mention it, we are not even seeking a constitutional amendment for that right to be given express reference in the Constitution. We simply recognise that it can be done through the passage of legislation. The legislation is already there.

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath, here this evening. I know he is committed to vindicating the rights of people with disabilities. However, I am disappointed with his speech which, I know, he did not write. As Deputy Connolly said, the speech simply sets out a series of obstacles to dealing with the issue before us today. If I were the Minister of State, I would go back to the civil servants and ask them to provide some enabling advice. I do not want a page and a half on how to improve the Bill. What we need, and I welcome that the Minister of State has said it, is a commitment from the Government that this will be done.

The Minister of State will be well aware that political careers in general are very short. The best that most of us can hope to achieve is that we may be lucky enough to be a Minister for two to three years. Time passes very quickly. I urge him to put this at the forefront of his ambitions. He should go back to his Department and say that he is going to ensure Irish Sign Language legislation is brought through Leinster House during his time as Minister of State. That can be done.

I am very concerned that his speech stated this would go to pre-legislative scrutiny. Pre-legislative scrutiny is a new term in these days of new politics. I have a deep concern that pre-legislative scrutiny can mean putting something into a storage facility to be left there for a while. The Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath, who is committed to the rights of individuals with disabilities, needs to push this. He should not worry about the fact that some changes can be introduced to this legislation. Of course, there are changes that can be introduced. Let us put it down to amendments on Committee Stage. We have a very diligent and hard-working committee that is ready to take on the legislation and we are prepared to do the work in consultation with the Minister of State.

As Deputy Ó Caoláin stated, 5,000 deaf people use Irish Sign Language daily and an additional 35,000 hearing people use it. We talk about the rights of children in general. The right of a child to communicate is fundamental. The right of a child who is not deaf to communicate with his or her deaf parents is also a fundamental right that child must enjoy. We must ensure the precious right of communication which we all take for granted can be enjoyed by members of the deaf community.

As has been mentioned, in court cases, members of the deaf community do not have access to interpreters. They may have such access in criminal cases. People go to civil courts to have their constitutional rights vindicated and it is unacceptable that there is no direct access to interpreters in civil cases.

I am reminded of the essay James Joyce wrote in Italian in 1907 about the Maamtrasna murders. He wrote about Myles Joyce, who in 1882 had been wrongly convicted of the murders in Maamtrasna. What was so revealing about that criminal prosecution and trial was that Myles Joyce could not speak a word of English and yet his trial was conducted in English.

He did not know what was going on and he was subsequently hanged. This gives an indication of the disadvantage and disability that members of the deaf community can be under if they are exposed to a State that does not make strenuous efforts to ensure their rights, and not simply their rights to communicate, are vindicated.

I want to give other Members time to contribute and I will conclude by urging the Minister of State to drive forward with this issue, to go back to his departmental officials, tell them to give him enabling advice and not to find problems in a very well-intentioned Bill that has at heart the interests of the Irish deaf community. If we work together on this, we can achieve something very useful for these citizens, some of whom are in the Gallery this evening.

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