Mark Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Good Friday Agreement recognised Irish, Ulster Scots and Irish Sign Language as official languages. We agreed, with the British Government, that these languages would get official recognition in the North and South. While Irish Sign Language is recognised in the North of Ireland and policy has been put in place on the ground to implement it, here in the South there has been no implementation of it 15 years on from the signing of the Good Friday Agreement. I ask the Minister to make her Cabinet colleagues aware that it is a fundamental breach of international law and a disgraceful act for a government to sign up to an international agreement in good faith and then to blatantly ignore its provisions.

When the Good Friday Agreement was signed, interpreters had to be physically in the room. With modern technology one can have online interpreters. We can imagine how difficult it is for a member of the deaf community to explain his or her symptoms to a doctor. Something lost in translation could have a detrimental effect on the outcome. The Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Burton, gave us an excellent presentation on how unemployed people no longer have two-hour interviews in person, but do it over the phone. For a member of the deaf community that is not a possibility. Social welfare officers in offices around the country have computers. An online interpreter engaged by appointment would allow members of the deaf community, many of whom are unlikely to get full-time employment and are therefore more likely to be in need of social welfare assistance, to engage with social welfare services. Yet we have not put in place the infrastructure for them to do so and we continue to breach international agreements by failing to recognise Irish Sign Language. I will introduce a Bill on this. All parties have promised at various times to recognise Irish Sign Language, but-----