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Taoiseach Elect Opens
Midlands DeafHear.ie Resource Centre
On Friday April 14th, Minister for Finance and the Taoiseach elect, Mr. Brian Cowen T.D. officially opened the new DeafHear.ie Resource Centre in Church Street, Tullamore. The attendance included a number of local councillors, partnership organisations, and a number of adults and children who avail of DeafHear.ie services.
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| Taoiseach Elect Opens Midlands DeafHear.ie Resource Centre |
DeafHear.ie Chief Executive Niall Keane congratulated Mr. Cowen on his new appointment as leader of Fianna Fail, and wished him well with his new responsibilities in the future. Mr. Keane referred to the organisation’s new name ‘DeafHear.ie’, and the reasons for changing it from the National Association for Deaf People, saying that 2 one in seven people have a hearing loss…and feedback from our service users told us that our old name did not reflect what we do”.
Mr. Keane also highlighted a number of issues of particular importance to the disability sector in general, and to the deaf and hard of hearing community in particular. He asked Mr. Cowen to ensure in future that all monies allocated to the HSE by the government to provide services for people with disabilities reached its intended target. Mr. Keane also urged that attention be given to the development of Universal Newborn Hearing Screening, where delays in implementation have meant that early intervention has been denied to many young deaf and hard of hearing children, and we now lag behind many third world countries in this respect.
Mr. Cowen congratulated DeafHear.ie on the important services it provides to the local deaf and hard of hearing community, and also paid tribute to the special unit for deaf children in Geashill National School. He accepted that there was credibility in DeafHear.ie's campaign for Universal Newborn Hearing Screening and early intervention, and invited DeafHear.ie to make further representations to him on this matter in the future.
The launch was a considerable success in raising the profile of DeafHear.ie in the Midlands and bringing important issues to the attention of local and national politicians. Great credit is due to the local DeafHear.ie team for organising such a successful event.
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