John Dolan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

We are talking about a group of people who day in and day out experience being outsiders in every simple thing they do.

I welcome the Minister of State to the House and all the folk from the deaf community, many of whom I have known over the years, and I welcome this Bill coming to the House.

With regard to language I see it again as a matter of insiders and outsiders. God knows we should know this. If people cannot have their own language they have very little as human beings. It goes to the core of people's dignity. That is why this is a hot topic. I give that as an explanation as to why there is heat around this issue. The Minister of State mentioned the disability strategy that is to come before us. That strategy, which will be published in two weeks' time, was supposed to be published a year and a half ago. There is tardiness for all sorts of reasons, but it is people with disabilities of one kind or another that find themselves listening to reasons things cannot be done when they are things that go to the core of them as human beings.

Language is a cultural thing, and even in Ireland we change the language depending on what county we are in, in the sense that we have our own accents. The same beautiful expression must be there for people who are deaf.

On amendment No. 3 there is a correct, practical litany of the Departments, the local authorities, the HSE, the universities and institutes of technology and ETBs. These are the points at which people find the door slammed. That is why there is an insistence on having these matters dealt with.On that basis, I am happy to support these amendments.