Poet Seamus Heaney and artist Robert Ballagh went back to school today to join a group of children marking a special occasion.
The pair unveiled a celebratory bench in the Sense and Grow garden of St Joseph’s Centre for the Visually Impaired in Drumcondra for the 10th anniversary of the National Braille Production Centre.
Designed by Ballagh, the bench is inscribed with a poem in text and Braille by the Nobel Prize winning poet entitled Seeing The Sky.
Minister for Education Mary Coughlan commended staff at the school and production centre. She said the Braille system was still important, despite the introduction of CD, podcast, audio, and voice simulation communication systems.
“Despite the many wonderful benefits that such audio technology can bring, it still remains crucial that people can read and write down thoughts and information, and share it in written form,” she said.
“The written format, expressed though Braille, continues to offer privacy, independence, and permanence.”
The National Braille Production Centre, on the same site as the north Dublin school, was founded in 2000 - when four staff produced 52 transcriptions in Braille and large print for 17 students.
Last year, 25 staff members produced 2,800 transcriptions for 410 students, with the figure now rising to almost 500.
It has launched an online bookshelf pilot project which will explore the feasibility of delivering alternative book formats to children with a visual impairment.
PA