You may have seen the hashtag #StopHidingISL popping up on your media feed of late.

It’s a grassroots campaign asking RTE to show the national anthem in ISL in full at the All Ireland football final next Sunday, September 2nd.

This came about because RTE chose only to show a few seconds of the historic first public performance of Amhran na bhFiann at the hurling final on August 19th, despite the hype and media attention that the event got in advance of the match.

There was huge disappointment and frustration in the Deaf community as a result of that decision to effectively exclude ISL from our screens at this prestigious event, which was also a momentous occasion for the Community.

This was compounded by the RTE coverage of the Pope’s visit to Ireland. Again ISL was seen from time to time, in the distance, but not in a way that was meaningful or useful for Deaf ISL users.

The Stop Hiding ISL movement came about when a few individuals decided to become vocal about the issue on social media. A few more fell in along the way. And so together with the support of the Deaf community around the country and internationally, and the Irish Deaf Society, the Stop Hiding ISL campaign has gathered speed.

There is a petition, currently with over 5,000 names. And four protest planned for tomorrow (August 30th 2018) in Cork, Dublin, Waterford and Limerick. There is still time to sign the petition (it will close tomorrow mid afternoon).

See #StopHidingISL to keep up date with the campaign.

See below for the Irish Deaf Society’s open letter about the issue.

Thanks for your support!