{"id":503669,"date":"2026-06-17T03:53:23","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T03:53:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/503669\/"},"modified":"2026-06-17T03:53:23","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T03:53:23","slug":"deaf-blind-man-in-high-court-seeking-legal-aid-to-pursue-discrimination-case-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/503669\/","title":{"rendered":"Deaf-blind man in High Court seeking legal aid to pursue discrimination case \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

A deaf-blind man will argue at the High Court<\/a> for legal aid in a discrimination action over the HSE<\/a>\u2019s refusal to provide a sign language interpreter to help him learn to read Braille.<\/p>\n

David Eccles (33), of Baldoyle, Dublin 13, has taken a case against the Minister for Justice, Ireland, the Attorney General and the Legal Aid Board over a refusal of aid for complaints he has made to the Workplace Relations Commission<\/a> (WRC) he says should be covered by the civil legal aid system.<\/p>\n

Eccles has a rare genetic condition called Usher Syndrome Type 1, which affects his hearing, vision and balance. He was registered blind when he was 10 years old.<\/p>\n

He was born profoundly deaf and has experienced progressive vision loss throughout his life.<\/p>\n

Eccles uses Irish Sign Language (ISL) to communicate, which is his first and only accessible language, but he can communicate through an interpreter.<\/p>\n

As his vision deteriorates, Eccles will need to use touch-signing, known as hand-over-hand signing, and to learn Braille.<\/p>\n

Eccles has sought to avail of training and rehabilitative supports, which are made available by the HSE to blind people; as a deaf-blind person he requires an ISL interpreter to access Braille training.<\/p>\n

However, in September 2025, Eccles was informed that while there were spaces available for him to participate in Braille training, the HSE\u2019s health contractor Vision Ireland could not fund an ISL interpreter. <\/p>\n

Eccles has claimed in his case that this alleged failure of Vision Ireland and the HSE to make an ISL interpreter available to facilitate his Braille training amounts to direct discrimination.<\/p>\n

Eccles has initiated proceedings before the WRC against Vision Ireland and the HSE and has applied to the Legal Aid Board for funding.<\/p>\n

He was told in January that the Legal Aid Board had decided that his application fell \u201coutside the scope of civil legal aid as the board does not provide representation at the WRC\u201d.<\/p>\n

It is claimed that, by reason of disability, Eccles, who is unemployed and dependent on social welfare, cannot pay for legal representation to access the administration of justice within the meaning of the Constitution.<\/p>\n

In court on Monday, barrister Colin Smith, instructed by Community Law and Mediation in Coolock, Dublin, for Eccles, successfully applied to Judge Mary Rose Gearty for permission to argue for the quashing of the legal aid refusal. <\/p>\n

The case is taken under the Equal Status Act 2000 and under the Articles 34, 37 and 40 of the Constitution.<\/p>\n

In granting the application to challenge the refusal of legal aid, the judge said Eccles faced a \u201cnightmarish\u201d situation for a person in his situation seeking to take the challenge. <\/p>\n

Smith said it was \u201cvery difficult, if not impossible\u201d for a deaf-blind man even to make the application.<\/p>\n

The judge granted permission for the legal challenge and adjourned the matter to July.<\/p>\n

This article was amended on June 16th, 2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A deaf-blind man will argue at the High Court for legal aid in a discrimination action over the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2406,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[72,73,2120,61,60,214795,6465],"class_list":["post-503669","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-high-court","tag-hse","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-legal-aid-board","tag-workplace-relations-commission"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/503669","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=503669"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/503669\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=503669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=503669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=503669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}