Pictures: Lord Mayor marks 40 years of Cork Deaf Enterprises work

For the Lord Mayor of Cork, Green Party councillor Dan Boyle, one of the high points of his visit to Deaf Enterprises was learning the Irish Sign Language (ISL) sign for ‘lord mayor’.

Mr Boyle was visiting the charity’s Ballinlough premises to mark the 40th anniversary of the first time its founder, Fr Bill Clarke, began to work with members of Cork’s deaf community.

Mr Boyle had been to Deaf Enterprises before, but not as lord mayor, and on his official visit he met staff and other stakeholders at the workshops.

Among those there for the visit were students from Bishopstown Community School. Some were deaf, some had hearing, but all were ISL users, and they were joined by their teacher Denise Dowling.

In his address, Mr Boyle said it was an honour to visit and “especially an honour to mark 40 years of Deaf Enterprises and to see the quality of the work”.

“Deaf Enterprises is something that provides great value to our city, and I am in awe of the skill and workmanship that goes into renewing the furniture and the bikes. I am here to let you know that the city thinks very highly of the work you do and wants to support it in any way it can,” he said.

The charity’s importance to the circular economy was of particular interest to him as every year Deaf Enterprises repairs, re-upholsters and restores to high quality approximately 150 tonnes of furniture which would otherwise end up in landfill.

Deaf Enterprise currently employs 39 staff, 30 of whom are deaf or hard of hearing, or identify as having a disability.

Three years ago, five of the charity’s employees trained to become qualified bicycle mechanics, recycling and repairing used bikes, and since then they have restored some 700 bicycles.

Anthony White, who is one of Deaf Enterprises’ skilled craftspeople, taught Mr Boyle the ISL sign for ‘lord mayor’. ISL has, since the end of 2017, been one of Ireland’s three official languages, alongside Irish and English.

Asked if he might consider learning more ISL, Mr Boyle said his grandchildren were learning it at school, and that they would be instructing him. When asked his vision for Deaf Enterprises’ next 40 years, Mr White said he would like to see greater opportunities for exchanges between similar organisations across Europe.

Other staff, when asked about the future, mentioned the AI and robotics revolution, but pointed out that the very particular skills of staff at Cork Deaf Enterprises could ever only partially be replaced by machine.

Craftspeople Fionnula Johnson, Ann Callanan, and Mary Lawlor all emphasised the importance of the social network that has developed through their employment at Deaf Enterprises, noting how enjoyable it was to be part of a deaf working community. Ms Callanan spoke of her hopes of seeing a new generation of deaf people joining Cork Deaf Enterprises.

Board member and director Rachel MagShamhráin noted that people who are deaf or hard of hearing are still more likely to be unemployed and underemployed than the general population, and that this constitutes a huge loss to both society and the economy.

“Associations like Cork Deaf Enterprises are vital not just in terms of offering employment opportunities, but also in demonstrating to the wider community the important skills and potential of their employees,” she said.