Although it's literally only been open a couple of months, there's already a considerable buzz about 83 Waterloo Lane, the home of Trinity College Dublin's new Centre for Deaf Studies.

Hearing visitors new to the centre might notice that the buzz isn't really manifesting itself in terms of noise, despite the many students packed into the newly-decorated building, waiting for the start of afternoon classes. Of course, that's because most of them are chatting away in sign language. It's in places like this that you realise that noise isn't always necessary to create an atmosphere.

Part of this "silent" buzz is being generated by the preparations of the staff for the official opening of the centre by President McAleese, which took place yesterday. More importantly, it comes from the fact that the centre represents something of a milestone for the many in the Irish deaf community who have campaigned for the official recognition of Irish Sign Language (ISL) as a language in its own right.

The main purpose of the centre is the training of interpreters and deaf tutors in ISL, and its establishment is the culmination of a long campaign by the Irish Deaf Society (IDS).

There is a chronic shortage of qualified interpreters in ISL, with only 19 such interpreters working throughout the State. According to Martin Jones of Irish Sign Link, the agency that books interpreters, "there is work out there for 150 interpreters." By contrast, there are 200 interpreters in Sweden, he said.

Up until now, the agency has been an independent, self-funded organisation, but following a recent review by the National Disability Authority, it is to be incorporated into a Government department before the end of the year.

There have only been two courses for interpreter training in ISL in the past eight years: the first in TCD from 1992 to 1994 and second in UCC from 1998 to 2000. A total of 15 people completed those courses, which were both run in conjunction with the Centre for Deaf Studies at the University of Bristol, but no funding could be found to continue either of them on a long-term basis.

The breakthrough came when TCD's Centre for Language and Communication Studies, which had developed a strong relationship with the IDS over the past few years, won approval earlier this year from the college to establish the centre under its auspices.

Much of the IDS's drive to set up the centre came after establishing contacts with deaf people in Europe and the global deaf community. It was not until 1985, during a conference organised by the IDS, that the idea of ISL was first mentioned at a large public meeting.

"People didn't know what it meant," said Pat Matthews, an expert in ISL linguistics and a senior lecturer at the new centre. "People understood that they used sign, but ISL was never actually used to describe what they were doing, what they were signing."

The IDS's contacts with the global deaf community had introduced the idea, already advanced in other countries such as the US, Britain, and Sweden, that the sign language used by Irish deaf people was actually a language, he said.

"The idea was taboo at that time, and to have ISL spoken of in terms of education was something that was never done. So that was the first time that people spoke of ISL as a language as opposed to a system of communication that deaf people used."

"I think there's a big connection between the politicisation of the deaf community and the establishment of deaf studies," says Lorraine Leeson, director of the new centre.

"I think exposure to that (other deaf communities) meant that the IDS became much more aware of how far they needed to go here in Ireland, so they began to become much more actively involved in using political means like lobbying."

It's clear that since 1985, people like Matthews have spent time battling the many common misconceptions about ISL, such as the idea that it is merely a shortened version of English, or that it is derived from the Irish language. Similarly, British or American Sign Languages are not derived from English.

However, these are minor battles now that the centre has been established, particularly as it represents an official recognition in this State of the status of ISL as a language with distinctive elements, including its own structure, syntax and grammar. It is estimated to have some 4,000 users.

Right now, there are the practical, bread and butter issues of running a new academic centre that need to be dealt with, such as research and new course programmes to add to the two full-time diploma courses (one in ISL/English interpreting, the other in ISL teaching) that are currently running. Although the centre has been granted funding from the Higher Education Authority for at least five years, it will have to be self-financing as much as possible, says Leeson.

Another issue is tempering the expectation that in a couple of years there will be a new batches of fully ready, fully trained, ready-to-go interpreters. "Two years is okay for basic training, but will not make you a specialist," says Leeson, who is herself a trained interpreter. "There's a growing recognition that you can't microwave interpreters."

Out of a total of 18 students at the centre, seven are deaf people training to be ISL tutors, even though they may have be using sign language all their lives. "One of the aims of the centre is to tool up, to give them skills to be professional teachers," says Leeson. She adds because of the education system for the deaf, very few Irish deaf people will have had the opportunity to formally study what is their first language. There are also only about 10 qualified ISL tutors in the State.

The significance of the centre for the deaf community and for ISL means that it is likely have an influence on the education system of schools for the deaf. However, this is sensitive territory, as much of Irish deaf culture resonates with tales of how, in the past, the deaf schools adopted harsh anti-signing strategies, including punishment if pupils were caught using sign language. Indeed, the centre will have modules delivered by members of the deaf community talking about their childhood and education. Words like "oppression" and "abuse" may abound, as well as arguments against the mainstreaming of deaf children's education.

While Leeson and Matthews are keen to distance themselves as much as possible from the politics implicit in this area, they are keen to see that more deaf adults have an input into the education of deaf children.

The centre is already cultivating a growing relationship and links with the deaf schools in Cabra, St Joseph's and St Mary's. Matthews visits St Joseph's once a week to teach the teachers there more about ISL. In addition, two of the part-time lecturers at the centre are also teaching assistants in the deaf schools.

"I think we will have that influence internally simply because as more deaf people become qualified and the demand for deaf tutors with the appropriate qualifications increase, there will be that influence of deaf professionals there," says Leeson.

The centre will not be a teacher-training college for deaf people, but there will be elements that will deal with teaching ISL to young children as a first language.

Irish social policy in relation to deaf people is another area on which the centre will focus. Leeson says that until knowledge is gathered about deaf people's experiences of access to and interaction with services like the police, the courts, hospitals and so on, a lot of what is taught in the centre will be of little use. "We have to be seen as a resource for the deaf community and the educational community and other professionals working in the area."

What is also clear is that the prestige of being part of mainstream academia makes the new TCD centre part of the current strategy by the Irish deaf community to deal with issues of barriers to access and participation in society, many of which are common to all disabled people. So why not set up a centre for disability studies?

"I think the whole issue of exclusion and barriers to participation in society for the deaf community are predominantly related to language issues," says Matthews. "That's why you have deaf people walking out of public meetings if there are no interpreters present or you have deaf students writing off letters to their newspapers saying they've worked hard to get to university but they can't access it. It's not a physical access issue, it's a linguistic issue."

Leeson says that the centre is lucky in that many of its lecturers and staff are Irish deaf people who have studied in Britain, the US and other countries and will thus bring valuable experience and knowledge to bear. Furthermore, scholars from similar centres for deaf studies overseas have already been contacting the centre enquiring about coming over to study here. Inside 83 Waterloo Lane, you may not be able to hear the buzz, but you can certainly see it.