Until recently with the delivery of the Sign Up for ISL project in Tipperary, there was NO classes available in Tipperary to meet the unmet ISL literacy need that exists across the country. Now, over 60 people have participated locally and learned basic ISL. Following on from the success of the Sign up for ISL project and the Sign for Future projects, TETB have offered basic ISL tutor hours in the community.

60 students undertook basic ISL introductory classes in 2024. Now, with ongoing TETB support to address the gap in ISL literacy, 36 new students are enrolled now in two more ISL classes from Feb to April 2025.

With the Collaboration and Innovation funding in 2024 and the follow-on funding for the Sign for Future project, Tipperary will have Deaf ISL Tutors available in the community to deliver basic introduction to ISL classes in local communities.

TETB’s commitment to this project is a clear and crucial example of meaningful support towards growing ISL in Ireland across broader communities, meeting a largely unmet literacy need for ISL.

The classes will have a long-term impact in terms of addressing the dearth in ISL literacy across the broader community. The classes provide a sustainable long lasting and committed solution to a traditionally excluded group of people based on literacy and lack of communication skills.

The Sign Up for ISL project has reached out into the community in ways we could not have predicted and some of the ongoing outcomes include a weekly drop-in ISL meeting group at Tipp Library where learners can practice their ISL together, a monthly Sign Cafe that is greatly supported with people travelling from surrounding counties to meet Deaf friends and to engage with the new ISL learners in Tipperary.

TETB’s support for community based ISL training classes, ensures the seed that has been sown in Tipperary can grow. We have to nurture what has started in Tipperary, and we can showcase how the ALL, TETB and partnership with local agencies can work together to meet a traditionally unmet literacy need for Ireland's 3rd officially recognized language.

The onus is on us now as agencies and communities to make sure we don't lose the momentum that has started in Tipperary.