Lorraine Clifford Lee (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I take this opportunity to welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath, to the House. I also welcome the members of the Irish deaf community and the many school children in the Visitors Gallery. That the Gallery is full shows how important this Bill is.

It is an honour for me to second the Bill. I pay tribute to my colleague, Senator Mark Daly, for his dogged commitment to this Bill, which deals with an issue on which he has tirelessly campaigned for over six years. Senator Daly brought this Bill before the House on two separate occasions during the lifetime of the Fine Gael-Labour Party Government but on each occasion it was rejected. I am hopeful that there will be a change of heart on this occasion and that the Bill will receive cross-party support today. I also pay tribute to the Irish Deaf Society which has been campaigning on this issue for over 30 years.

As a member of the Joint Committee on Justice and Equality, I was delighted to support our report which recommends the passage of this Bill. We were fortunate enough to have excellent contributions from members of the Irish deaf community who outlined to us in stark terms the hurdles facing their community when trying to access the health system, the justice system and the education system. They also outlined how transformative it would be if Irish Sign Language was recognised as a native and independent language. The contributions were all the more poignant when we learned a short time after these presentations to the committee of the tragic deaths of brothers of Daniel and William McCarthy in their own home. This illustrated the urgent need for the rights of the deaf community in Ireland to be officially recognised and to end the social isolation experienced by these people. Recognition of this Bill and of the Irish Sign Language would allow members of the deaf community to play a full part in society, which we should all support and encourage.I call on all Members to support the Bill strongly.