Fintan Warfield (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Last night, the Seanad progressed legislation recognising the rights of the deaf community. It came to the attention of many of us after the debate -and to my attention online - that the Oireachtas could not facilitate access to the full broadcast of that debate. This opens up the wider conversation of why the Oireachtas and this Parliament does not face outwards and why broadcasts of the Oireachtas and Parliament cannot be accessed by all of our communities. The Irish Deaf Society thanked a Ms Catherine White who live-streamed a live interpretation of yesterday's proceedings on the Recognition of Irish Sign Language for the Deaf Community Bill 2016. It is hugely problematic and deeply upsetting that the deaf community could not access all debates relevant to their lives. I would welcome a comment from the Leader on what we can do in this Chamber to ensure that the Oireachtas broadcast of debates here is fully accessible and whether this is a matter for the Committee on Procedure and Privileges?