Colette Kelleher (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I fully support amendments Nos. 1, 2 and 3 as proposed by Senator Daly. We are talking about language here and not simply a means of communication. It is about the respect that is owed to the deaf community. It is of critical importance that it be enshrined in legislation. That is not just semantics but a fundamental understanding of rights and the preferences of people who are deaf to communicate in Irish Sign Language.

Widening the group of public bodies covered by this legislation is very important because of the exclusion at all levels of members of the deaf community, from education, health care and the right to justice. It is really dispiriting to read. I note the correspondence from the Irish Deaf Society. The Government's proposal to delete large tracts of the Bill is deeply concerning, and the amendments, indeed. There is a danger that we will be left with a Bill with little substance. It would be a grievous error to eliminate vast sections of the Bill on the basis that they are otherwise provided for via the national disability strategy that the Minister of State talks about. We need to have these measures enshrined at last in legislation, and we will accept nothing less. If that means breaking consensus here we will. People have waited too long.

I would like Senator Freeman to be heard on this matter. There was a very unpleasant exchange earlier when she was asked to sit down and not speak, and I would like the Leas-Chathaoirleach to look at that.