£1.3million for sign language tutors and interpreters announced

The Minister for Employment and Learning, Sir Reg Empey, today pledged an additional £1.3million to enhance the provision of sign language tutors and interpreters here.

The funding, secured in the Comprehensive Spending Review, will enable the Department for Employment and Learning to work with the Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID), and other key stakeholders, to develop proposals to further enhance the supply of fully qualified British and Irish Sign Language interpreters and tutors in Northern Ireland.

Speaking about the announcement, the minister said: "The shortage of sign language tutors and interpreters in Northern Ireland has long been of concern.

“Currently, around 5,000 profoundly deaf sign language users in Northern Ireland have access to only ten fully qualified interpreters, relying on them to assist in communication in a wide range of circumstances, such as employment and education, hospital appointments and legal proceedings. The lack of qualified specialists has meant that thousands of deaf people have been excluded from everyday activities that hearing people take for granted.

“I am pleased that my department was successful in securing this funding which I am sure will go a long way in addressing this issue.”

The funding package will help to improve access to training courses for interpreting students, who traditionally have had to travel to England to learn their craft. Deaf tutors who teach the language will also benefit from a programme of training in the higher levels of the language and relevant teaching qualifications and support. This training will form a foundation on which to build a longer-term strategy to increase the number of interpreters in Northern Ireland to a par with best practice levels in other parts of Europe.

The funding package announced today is in addition to a further £0.1million which the department secured through the Skills and Science Fund. Already, the funding has been used to reinstate the ‘Introduction to Sign Language Interpreting’ course at Belfast Metropolitan College.

Notes to Editors

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