Sir, - Darren Dunne (September 28th) underlines the acute shortage of Irish Sign Language interpreters and the disastrous effects this has for deaf people (and, we can add, for the rest of society, deprived of the contribution deaf people could make to it).
Some hope on this front is afforded by the course our organisation has been co-ordinating for the past two years under the EU Horizon initiative. Ten people have been training to diploma level at the universities of Bristol and Cork to become interpreters of Irish Sign Language. They are due to qualify in December. The Minister for Education and Science has provided most of the co-funding requirement for the project.
Obviously this initiative does not go far enough at all. That is why our organisation and others agree with Darren Dunne in asking the Department of Education to take on the training of Irish Sign Language interpreters as part of the mainstream provision for education in this country as is done in other countries such as Germany, the UK and the Netherlands. Only in this way will deaf people gain access to third-level and adult education (as well as legal, medical and social access as full citizens of our country).
Only in this way also will deaf people be enabled to make their full contribution to our national life. - Yours, etc.,
Rev William Clarke, CM, Chairman, Cork Deaf Enterprises, Sundrive Park,Ballinlough Road, Cork.