Mark Daly (Fianna Fail)

Senator O'Toole will no doubt take up his placard and head out the door.

Many of the principals with whom I have met spoke of intransigence. They speak of unions and teachers who get paid a weekly allowance for substitution, whether they do it or not, which is pensionable. As the issue has arisen it has become of great interest to me and, no doubt, to the taxpayer.

I have been told by principals throughout the country that some unions have instructed their members, who are being requested to do substitution, not to carry out the work. This is despite their being paid by the taxpayer to do it. The instructions to principals are that a substitute force should be sought before teachers do the substitution.

The motion from the Labour Party is wide-ranging in the education field and Senator O'Toole seems to have deviated slightly because it specifically mentions special needs. The education of people with special needs is most affected. Senator O'Toole mentioned his special interests but my nominating group is not nearly as powerful as that of Senator O'Toole. It is the Irish Deaf Society, which has a great knowledge of disability and disadvantage with regard to our education system.

Perhaps the Minister of State will take this up with the principals because the capitation grant is not being utilised when deaf parents or children come to them seeking an interpreter, which is deeply disturbing. The Irish Deaf Society is taking the lead in trying to establish a so-called call centre — an ironic pun when it comes to the deaf community — on this. For example, in England, if one appears before a body such as a local council, education board or principal of a school, there is a translator available on-line so that no matter what part of England a person is in, communication can be facilitated between the body and a member of the deaf community.

There are 5,000 people in Ireland, along with 50,000 family members, who use Irish sign language. As a Government spokesperson on the issue, I know some deeply upsetting facts on this. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities has yet to be ratified by Ireland, which seems senseless when one considers that 10% of the world's population live with a disability, accounting for 20% of the poorest people in the world. As the disability rate among the lower-educated in the OECD shows, it is those with disabilities who have the least amount of education.

One section of the Labour Party's motion states "Seanad Éireann believes that it is essential that children with disabilities have access to mainstream education for as long as possible", and I agree with it. The ratification of UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is, putting it mildly, slowly coming about and it will, no doubt, give numerous rights to people like those of the Irish deaf community. It is difficult to believe and embarrassing for this country that countries such as Bangladesh, Chile, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Gabon, Guinea, Honduras, Mexico, Peru and the Philippines have preceded us in ratifying this convention. Even countries with questionable human rights records such as China and Saudi Arabia have managed to ratify the convention.

The European Union passed two resolutions, one in 1988 and another in 1998, indicating Irish sign language should be recognised and the UK, Denmark, Finland, Portugal and Sweden have done this. If we recognised Irish sign language, it would be incumbent on us to facilitate those people who use it in communication with Government. There is British and Irish sign language and, absurdly, Irish sign language has been recognised at least in one part of this island. Under the Good Friday Agreement, Irish sign language has received official status in Northern Ireland. Amazingly, in the Twenty-six Counties, Irish sign language has still to be ratified as an official language.

In its manifesto prior to the previous general election, the Green Party stated it would push for Irish sign language to become an official language, therefore allowing people to communicate with Government and those in education. This would help those who have the most to lose and the biggest mountain to climb, and who are less likely to have access to the education system we know because of disability. Without the official recognition of Irish sign language, those people will not have access to mainstream education. I, with my Green Party colleagues, hope to ensure Irish sign language gets official language recognition, as it should under the Good Friday Agreement. This promise has been implemented in the North but has not in this jurisdiction as of yet.