Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 8 July 2025
445. Deputy Jen Cummins asked the Minister for Education and Youth her plans to support people learning Braille, Irish Sign Language and other ways of communication in schools; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [37899/25]
View answerThe Department of Education and Youth provides an extensive range of supports to assist children who are Blind/ Visual Impairment or Deaf Hard of Hearing. The Department's policy, which is provided for under Section 2 of the Education of Persons with Special Needs Act 2004, aims to ensure all children with special educational needs access appropriate education intervention in mainstream settings where possible.
The National Council for Special Education (NCSE) has responsibility for coordinating and advising on the education provision for children nationwide. The visiting teacher service for the blind/ visually impaired and deaf hard of hearing forms part of the NCSE support service for schools.
The NCSE offers full school support to all staff and provides support for teachers and special needs assistants (SNA) with training needs in special education, through the NCSE support service which manages, co-ordinates and develops a range of supports in response to identified teacher training need. Schools can apply to the NCSE for training supports directly.
To offer longitudinal support to children who are deaf, hard of hearing or blind or visually impaired, the visiting teaching service under the NCSE is available. This service provides qualified teachers, who have particular skills and knowledge of the development and education of children with varying degrees of hearing loss/visual impairment to support the child, the school and parents.
The work of the Visiting Teachers VTs involves liaising with other professionals and agencies such as ophthalmology services, low vision specialists, psychologists, early intervention teams, school staffs, and with parents. VTs provide support in the development of pre-braille skills and mobility for children with visual impairment and they discuss and demonstrate the management of low vision aids and assistive technologies. Many of the Visiting Teachers are proficient in the teaching of Braille and the NCSE also has an induction programme in place for new Visiting Teachers to learn Braille and to upskill in this area.
The Irish Sign Language tuition scheme is available to Deaf or Hard of Hearing children from diagnosis to leaving post primary school. The scheme provides funding for a weekly tuition service. Tutors visit the home of a deaf or hard of hearing pre-school child or school-going pupil to provide training in ISL for the child, their siblings, their grandparent(s) and parents or guardian.
There is also a longstanding existing provision in place to support children in mainstream settings where ISL is their primary language. The department sanctions an additional special needs assistant to schools, above their existing allocation, where a school is required to employ an individual with ISL proficiency to provide support. These dedicated SNAs will support the students in accessing the curriculum and the wider school community.
Building on this support, in March 2022, a new scheme for the provision of Irish Sign Language in-school support for students who are Deaf and whose primary means of communication is ISL was announced. Under the scheme, two new posts have been created, an ISL – Specialist Classroom Support and an ISL Advisor for the Deaf or Hard of Hearing. A recruitment campaign is currently underway for additional ISL specialist classroom support personnel.
Each year the NCSE funds teachers of children who are blind/visually impaired deaf hard of hearing to undertake specialist training in the form of a post-graduate or master’s programme in the UK.
The Department of Education also provides funding annually to Child Vision’s Reading Services, formerly National Braille Production, to provide all children with a registered visual impairment with transcriptions of educational material for primary and secondary schools, in both mainstream and special schools in Ireland.
Funding is also available to schools for specialised equipment for children who are blind/ visually impaired or deaf/ hard of hearing, under the Department of Education’s Assistive Technology scheme.
It is my priority that all of the resources and supports for children who are blind/ visually impaired or deaf/ hard of hearing, are provided when they are needed, and we will continue to engage with NCSE and the relevant stakeholders on the provision of these supports.
