Responding to the Irish Government’s announcement on the new Access and Work scheme–a human rights approach

Ireland continues to fail to uphold the human rights of deaf people. On 30^th July 2024, Minister for Social Protection launched the new Work and Access Programme, which offers a set of supports to people with disabilities to obtain a job or remain in work. The aim is to remove or reduce barriers in the workplace for people with a disability. However, as this article aims to highlight, there are two issues of concern within the Work and Access scheme for deaf people that need to be addressed: the perception of Irish Sign Language (ISL) as a form of ‘communication support’ and the cap in number of hours of support available for deaf ISL users. This paper aims to show why these concerns will have a negative impact on deaf people’s ability to participate in the workplace and to offer suggestions for how these might be alleviated.