Irish Sign Language Act 2017

The Irish Sign Language Act 2017 (Act No. 13 of 2017; previously Bill No. 40 of 2017) is an Act of the Oireachtas (Irish parliament) which gives Irish Sign Language official legal status.

Irish Sign Language Act 2017
Oireachtas
Long title An Act to provide for the recognition of Irish Sign Language, its use in legal proceedings and the provision of interpretation into Irish Sign Language by public bodies and to provide for related matters.
Citation	No. 40 of 2017
Territorial extent	Ireland
Passed by	Dáil
Passed	17 October 2017
Passed by	Seanad
Passed	14 December 2017
Signed by	President Michael D. Higgins
Signed	24 December 2017
Commenced	Commenced: 23 December 2020
Legislative history
First chamber: Dáil
Bill title	Irish Sign Language Bill 2016
Bill citation	No. 78 of 2016
Introduced by	Minister for Health (Stephen Donnelly)
Introduced	29 January 2023
Committee responsible	Health
First reading	21 July 2016
Second reading	21 June 2017
Considered by the Health Committee	17 October 2017
Report and Final Stage	17 October 2017
Second chamber: Seanad
Second reading	14 December 2017
Considered in committee	14 December 2017
Report and Final Stage	14 December 2017
Final stages
Seanad amendments considered by the Dáil	14 December 2017
Finally passed both chambers	14 December 2017
Summary
Recognises Irish Sign Language with official legal status
Status: In force

Background

Broadly, before the bill was passed there were large swathes of public services that were inaccessible to deaf people.

In 2015, it was noted by Mental Health Reform that unless a user of mental health services books an interpreter in advance, there is no way to communicate this in advance.

In 2017, the Citizens Information Board published a report criticising a lack of interpreters in public organisations as undermining of the self-worth of deaf people and quite possibly clinically dangerous in a medical context due to the possibility of a misunderstanding leading to significant clinical risk.

In 2020, primary education was criticised as extremely exclusionary and inaccessible to deaf children.

The campaign for Irish Sign Language to gain legal recognition took 35 years from the start of the campaign to commencement.

Commencement of the law

The law commenced on 23 December 2020.

Impact

One year after commencement, according to a report by the National Disability Authority into the operation of the law, awareness among public bodies about there was very low. The Irish Government delayed publication by 1 year due to an "ongoing legal issue".

See also

• Sign Language Bill (Northern Ireland)
• British Sign Language Act 2022
• Accessible Canada Act
• New Zealand Sign Language Act 2006