Research to support assessment of capacity of interpreting in Ireland was completed in October 2017, based on a study and consultation with sign language interpreters. Carried out by Holly Westcott and written up with John Stewart, the research validates the concerns about a national skill shortage. It found the combination of job insecurity, travel time, business management and underlying structural issues are significant barriers to growing the capacity of sign language interpreters.
The recommendations are being addressed at both policy and implementation level.
SLIS is now working to put a quality-assurance and registration scheme for interpreters in place under the National Disability Inclusion Strategy 2017-2021 (NDIS), and in response to the Irish Sign Language (ISL) Act 2017.
The link to the research report is here:
Other SLIS papers related to this subject include:
SLIS position paper A national skill shortage in sign language interpreting 270117
Consultation paper on Development of a National Register of sign language interpreters 250418
Responses welcome to john.stewart@slis.ie