Deaf group forced to rely on donations

A leading Irish deaf group has warned Government cutbacks mean it must rely on charitable donations and the bequeathed wills of supporters in order to keep its services running.

Irish Deaf Society chairman Kevin Mulqueen made the claim after a ceremony awarding the achievements of people who are deaf and hard of hearing.

Speaking to the Irish Examiner through a sign language interpreter, Mr Mulqueen said the sector has been hit hard by funding cuts from the Department of Education and HSE during the recession.

He said the Irish Deaf Society provides Irish sign language home tuition, adult literacy course, audiology, and speech services for people who are deaf or hard of hearing.

However, Mr Mulqueen said the group is increasingly having to rely on charitable donations to keep the services running at a high standard — with not all services surviving the funding gaps.

“We’ve had cutbacks in the last few years that have affected us,” he said. “We’ve had to really stretch our services. In relation to the Irish sign language home tuition, the allocation of hours has been reduced.

“The deaf adult literacy services is the only one of its kind in Ireland and we’ve had huge cuts there, we’ve had to minimise hours, cut classes and there are students we can’t provide classes for.

“Our services are a very valuable commodity to the deaf community, and although we are grateful to the funding the cutbacks have affected us.

“We do have to fundraising to keep our services on a par with what we were at a few years ago, and that includes personal donations and bequeathing wills.”

Mr Mulqueen’s claim was supported by former teacher Maura Buckley, who accused the Government of being out of touch with the deaf community after she was awarded yesterday for dedicating her life to people with hearing difficulties.

The Dublin-based teacher, who received a lifetime achievement award, added she fears cuts to services across the disability sector could lead to isolation.

“I don’t think the people in power, the Government, understand the needs of this group of people,” she said.

Ms Buckley said she was shocked and honoured to be recognised at the Hidden Hearing Heroes Awards, an annual ceremony to highlight the achievements and accomplishments of those who are deaf or hard of hearing.

The 72-year-old was a founding member of Deaf Action Group in the 1980s, which became the Irish Deaf Society.

She was the first deaf Irish woman to become a qualified teacher and went on to become vice principal at St Mary’s School for Deaf Girls.

Among other winners were 18-year-old Cork girl Roisin Ormond (youth award); Kerry’s Abigail Cahill and Anna Cahill (family award); the “signs of life” photography exhibition team (social contribution award); and Belfast native Denis Broderick (workplace award).

Dublin’s Stuart Foy, who was described as a “sporting legend” after he became Ireland’s most capped deaf footballer and recently represented his country aged 40 at the Deaflympics, was named sportsperson of the year.

Legendary singer Daniel O’Donnell, who presented the awards at the annual ceremony, said he was “in awe” of the achievements of those involved.