Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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863. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection further to Parliamentary Question No. 396 of 14 February 2023, if she will report the recommendations of the Irish Sign Language pilot scheme; the timeframe for the implementation of a permanent scheme for users of Irish Sign Language; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13972/23]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Sign Language Interpreting Service (SLIS), funded and supported by the Citizens Information Board (CIB), a statutory body under the aegis of my Department, provides a range of Irish Sign Language (ISL) interpreting services to individuals and organisations, including:

- The Irish Remote Interpreting Service which provides a live video-link to an ISL interpreter;

- A 24/7 emergency service to arrange for ISL interpreters in crisis situations;

- A service to enable access to GP and HSE primary care services;

- A support and access service to help service providers reduce barriers and become more accessible;

- A Social Interpreting Fund to cover interpreting costs for funerals and hardship cases.

As you are aware, Section 9 of the ISL Act 2017 assigns responsibility to the Minister for Social Protection for the provision of funds to facilitate ISL users with access to social, educational and cultural events and services (including medical) and other activities as specified in guidelines, and I have assigned the implementation of this responsibility to CIB.

The establishment by SLIS, with the support of CIB, of the Register of Irish Sign Language Interpreters (RISLI) in 2020, in line with requirements assigned to the Minister for Social Protection under Section 7 of the ISL Act, was a fundamental prerequisite for Section 9, in order to ensure a high quality of ISL interpreting for any such scheme of supports.

Building on from the establishment of RISLI, with the support of CIB, SLIS has been progressing the implementation of Section 9 of the ISL Act. In 2021, a pilot scheme was launched for a four-month period, providing users of Irish Sign Language with access to free interpretation for eligible activities in accordance with developed guidelines.

An evaluation of the pilot was completed in July 2022, the recommendations of which will be considered as part of any future scheme, to ensure it meets the needs of the Deaf community in Ireland and meets the obligations under the Irish Sign Language Act 2017. 272 booking requests were made to SLIS during the four-month pilot period, resulting in 160 unique users and 66 users using the service more than once.

The key recommendation from the evaluation report includes that the pilot scheme should continue as a ‘permanent and expanding service-offering for the Irish Deaf Community’.

Other recommendations from the evaluation report include the following:

- ‘To identify anappropriate budget’and ‘timeline’for ‘setting up a permanent scheme’;

- ‘To identify barriers and enablers to social inclusion within the Deaf Users’ community’ through support for the development of a scheme;

- ‘ To identify those areas in the programme which have shown room for improvement, and which may require improvement prior to the establishment of a permanent scheme’;

- ‘To identify and resource the limited availability of interpreters in Ireland’;

- ‘To promote Participative Decision-Making with all relevant stakeholders involved in the process’;

- To improve the amount of access Deaf Users can have’.

CIB and SLIS are currently engaging on proposals as to how such a future scheme can be implemented, based on the findings and above-mentioned recommendations of the evaluation report, as well as other important considerations, including, for example, current ISL services provided by SLIS, service delivery models, managing future demand in tandem with the limited supply of ISL interpreters in Ireland.

As Minister, I remain committed to progressing this work in order to fulfil our commitments in the ISL Act and to ensure that our Deaf citizens can take part in Irish society as full and equal citizens. I am confident that SLIS, working with its funding body CIB, has the skills and experience to deliver this.