Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will share three minutes with Senator Murnane O'Connor and I will take five minutes.

I welcome the Minister of State with responsibility for disability issues, Deputy Finian McGrath, to the Chamber. He has served his time having worked with those with disabilities and who are marginalised in his community and throughout the country. It was tremendous when he was appointed given he also has a watching brief at Cabinet. This is an important day for Senator Mark Daly, who has pioneered this issue for a long time. As a result of the new dispensation and new politics, we are now in a position to pass legislation regardless of whether the Government likes it or not. The Government has certainly proved in the past that it was not prepared to support this legislation.

This Bill was counter-signed by Senators Keith Swanick and Catherine Ardagh and supported by the Fianna Fáil group in Seanad Éireann. It is a step in the right direction. Senator Mark Daly, in particular, deserves credit because he has put a lot of work into this Bill, as have members of the deaf community, including Dr. John Bosco Conama from County Roscommon. Dr. Conama, who works in Trinity College Dublin has pioneered the use of sign language. We have all been proud to see him on RTE providing a service to the deaf community, particularly during the six o'clock news, on which he served for many years. The work he is doing is very important.

It is 100 years since the Rising. It is surprising that the deaf have not been recognised in their country during those 100 years of freedom. This is an historic day for the deaf community at home and abroad and I am delighted the Oireachtas television service will broadcast these proceedings on Thursday.

The Bill is comprehensive. It covers every area and will assist deaf people in their dealings with the education system and the courts as well as other public authorities and services.

To be deaf is to be in a lonely place. I have met people with different disabilities. This is a serious and profound disability, but people who are deaf have achieved an enormous amount in work as well as in serving the community. In so many ways, they have been active members of their communities. This Bill will ensure they will have a real voice in the State. I urge the Government not just to pay lip-service to this - the House might excuse the pun - but to go along with the Bill proposed by Senator Daly and the Seanad.

As I stated this morning, this House provides a service which is second to none. It is here that this Bill is being introduced. Without Senator Mark Daly and this House, this Bill would not have been heard of because the other House would not have time to deal with it.

I welcome all participants here today. I have read e-mails and text messages. I am very impressed by an e-mail from Kate Parnell and her teacher Catherine Moran from the school in New Ross in County Wexford. Ger Boyce from the Deaf Community Centre Limerick sent a text wishing this Bill success and Anthony Griffin outlined in great detail the barriers that exist.

I have known first hand the barriers deaf people face in society. As one of two hearing siblings in a deaf family, I have been communicating on behalf of my family all my life, including with banks, doctors, solicitors and Government Departments. This started when I was too young to be even involved in such matters, never mind understand them. I had to grow up fast and see the world for how it is at too young an age.

What this Bill means to the communities present today has been outlined clearly. It is a proud day for them to be here. I hope they pursue this Bill through Committee Stage to the Final Stage and ensure it is enacted as quickly as possible. I will now hand over to my colleague, Senator Murnane-Connor.