Northern Ireland sign language bill would fund free classes for deaf families

Northern Ireland is moving to treat sign language access as an early family support measure, not a narrow disability add-on. Under the Sign Language Bill, Stormont would have a duty to provide free classes for deaf people under 25, along with their close families, guardians and carers, a design that puts communication at the centre of a child’s development from the start.

The bill was introduced to the Northern Ireland Assembly by Communities Minister Gordon Lyons on 10 February 2025, after the Northern Ireland Executive approved the draft legislation on 23 January 2025. It completed Second Stage on 18 February 2025 and finished Committee Stage on 12 February 2026 before moving on to later Assembly scrutiny. The legislation would require public bodies to take reasonable steps to make their information and services accessible to deaf people, while promoting both British Sign Language and Irish Sign Language.

That framing marks a significant policy shift. The Assembly has described Northern Ireland as set to become the first part of these islands to pass a bilingual sign language law covering both BSL and ISL. It also closes a long-standing gap, because Northern Ireland was one of the last jurisdictions in these islands without legal protections for sign languages. Great Britain’s British Sign Language Act received Royal Assent on 28 April 2022, Ireland passed the Irish Sign Language Act in December 2017, and Scotland’s BSL Act received Royal Assent in October 2015.

The political case for the bill rests on the idea that sign language access works best when it begins at home. Free classes for deaf children, their parents and carers could improve everyday communication, reduce isolation and make it easier for families to support learning before school difficulties harden into longer-term gaps. That is the model the bill appears to advance: an early intervention approach in which language access is treated as part of family life and educational readiness, not something added later as a remedial service.

Campaigners and officials say that approach has been shaped by sustained pressure from the deaf community. RNID said the bill would make sign language classes available to deaf children and their close families, guardians and carers, while the Committee for Communities said deaf community involvement had been instrumental in shaping a bill with real potential to deliver change. The Assembly debate also showed the policy is still being tested, with members discussing an amendment to extend class availability to people over 25 who become deaf, along with their family members and carers.

A Queen’s University Belfast Centre for Children’s Rights has noted that BSL and ISL were recognised as languages in their own right in Northern Ireland in 2004, but that recognition did not create legal rights. The bill now before Stormont would convert that long-standing cultural recognition into enforceable access, and if it succeeds, it could set a template for the rest of the UK.