Cork councillor calls for referendum to recognise ISL as official language

A referendum should be held on Irish Sign Language (ISL) being recognised as a third language in the constitution of Ireland, a Cork county councillor has said.

Midleton-based Fianna Fáil councillor Ann Marie Ahern, raised the matter as a motion at the recent meeting of Cork County Council.

Although ISL is covered under the establishment of the Irish Sign Language Act 2017, which commenced in December 2020, it is currently not included in the Irish constitution.

Ms Ahern has called on the council to write to ministers Hildegarde Naughton, Norma Foley and Cork’s Michael Moynihan, to further engage in a referendum to include Irish Sign Language as a third language in the constitution of Ireland.

At present in Ireland, there are approximately 5,000 people who use Irish Sign Language as their primary language.

The number of people with a deafness or hearing impairment of any extent is over 103,000, according to figures the Irish Deaf Society and the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

Ms Ahern told The Echoshe would like to see the matter progress further and a referendum be carried out. “Introducing Irish Sign Language into the constitution would then recognise Irish Sign Language and establishes rights for the ISL community.

“Until my further engagement, I actually never knew the language of sign language is not covered at all in our constitution.”

Ms Ahern added: “The response I got to the motion has been tremendous and I am extremely grateful for it. I hope that support will put pressure on the three ministers involved to expedite the process for a referendum to include Irish Sign Language in the constitution.”