Fintan Warfield (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I was contacted during the week by members of the deaf community about funding for the Irish Deaf Society. Despite a promised decision on funding by the HSE in November, the society has yet to hear of a decision and there has been no indication of when a decision on funding will be made, good or bad. The Irish Deaf Society is now unable to make key business decisions. The HSE and the Government are fully aware of the situation and, what is more worrying, are not acting. They are, therefore, risking the closure of the service. I was informed earlier that the society will cancel classes from the end of February. That will be the first operational decision it will make that acknowledges the lack of funding and as we go into the next month, it will be more and more difficult to reverse inevitable actions.

The deaf community is now planning protests and the Irish Deaf Society is now planning for the closure of the much needed services of the organisation at large. Given that this House initiated and endorsed Senator Mark Daly's Bill to give Irish Sign Language official recognition and that the legislation has been signed into law, in addition to the fact that the State is now a signatory of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, we should reflect on the fact that having ratified rights for the deaf and hearing impaired community we are still failing to provide vital services to facilitate those rights. I call on the Leader to see if the Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath, could come into this House to discuss the issue as soon as possible because the longer the situation continues the greater the risk that is posed to core services.