Review of Sign Language Interpretation Services and Service ...

It is assumed that the rollout of the pilots would be on a phased basis with the firstpilot in year 1, followed by four pilots in year 2 and the remaining 5 pilots beingimplemented in year 3. The total establishment and rollout cost of the 10 remoteinterpreting pilot sites amounts to circa €60,000.The remote interpreting costs for phase two (years 4-6) are not estimated, asthese will be determined by the outcome of the pilots conducted in phase one.8.2.5 SLI marketing/promotion and awareness buildingSubstantial marketing and promotion of SLI services to the Deaf community andpublic service users, is essential in the future.A budget for this activity is built into the funding requirement, with awarenessbuilding initiatives €60,000 in year 1 and an average annual budget for years 2 to6 of approximately €27,000. An increase in the budget is allowed for in year 4 tosupport the rollout of the national remote interpreting service.8.2.6 AdministrationKey components of the administration costs associated with the establishment andrunning of the Irish Sign Language Interpretation Service include:• Initial company formation (of the new entity, the Irish Sign LanguageInterpretation Service)• Annual audit fees• Staff recruitment• Research and development, particularly on assessment of appropriatetechnologies for remote interpreting, in year 2• Expenses associated with the Board and the SLI Advisory GroupThe total estimated administration cost for the six year timeframe is approximately€185,000, with phase one accounting for €144,000 (€53,000 in year 1 and€73,000 in year 2) and phase two amounting to circa €41,000.8.3 FUNDING THE DEVELOPMENT AND ONGOINGADMINISTRATION OF SLI SERVICESThere is a social cost associated with making public services accessible to the Deafcommunity and developing a quality interpretation service for the Deaf.Development funding needs to be invested in the service by the State.The extent to which the Irish Sign Language Interpretation Service will be able tofund the development and ongoing administration of the service, in the future, willbe influenced by:• The overall level of demand for SLI services• The efficiency of the organisation and how it is run• The administration fee set by the Irish Sign Language Interpretation ServiceThe fees to be paid by the Irish Sign Language Interpretation Service to theinterpreters would be recommended by IASLI. However, when setting thepage 138 • Review of Sign Language Interpretation Services and Service Requirements in Ireland