Mark Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Amendment No. 4 has been ruled out of order, but the amendment that remains was drafted by the Irish Deaf Society and relates to the formal recognition of Irish Sign Language. The amendment that has been ruled out of order is exactly the same as the Government's amendment. The Government chose not to submit this amendment, which formally recognises Irish Sign Language for the first time in statute. I will read the wording into the record. This is the one the Government is not allowing to be put forward and did not put forward itself. If it had tabled this amendment, we would, of course, have supported it because it would formally recognise Irish Sign Language. If the Government had tabled the amendment, it would have involved a charge on the Exchequer. Under the rules of this House, it would then have been allowed to be passed. This is the worrying part.

This is the language the Government did not want to include even though it is its own language, but it did not table these amendments:

The State recognises the right of Irish Sign Language users to use Irish Sign Language as their native language, and the corresponding onus on all public bodies to provide Irish Sign Language users with free interpretation when availing of or seeking to access statutory entitlements and services.

While that is the wording of my amendment, it is - word-for-word - the same as that used in the amendment which the Government did not put forward. My amendment has now been ruled out of order. If the Government had put its amendment forward, it would have been allowed and would have passed, and we would have better language in the Bill. That is the purpose of Committee Stage.

The Minister of State said we could not reach consensus. We cannot reach consensus on everything but we all reached consensus on that and yet it is now ruled out of order because the Government did not put forward its identical amendment. I am disappointed with that, but the ruling of the Chair is the ruling of the Chair. I hope the Minister of State will introduce the amendment to which I refer on Report Stage.