Deaf Education in Ireland

What is it about?

This article highlights the emergence of ‘St. Joseph’s Institute for the Deaf and Dumb’, established in Rochfortbridge, County Westmeath in 1892 and 'St. Mary's School for Deaf Girls founded in 1845. The paper examines the role and influence of the Sister of Mercy and Dominican Sisters in the running of these schools. More significantly, it discusses, not only the religious sisters contribution to the education of Catholic female deaf children, but also the correspondences that took place between the two schools concerning the employment of deaf teachers. This paper argues that, in establishing these educational institutions, the Mercy and Dominicans sisters provided opportunities for literacy and industrial training for female deaf children whose needs could have been neglected.

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Why is it important?

The story of how the two Catholic schools, St. Joseph’s Institute in Rochfortbridge, County Westmeath and St. Mary’s in Cabra, Dublin is an area of study which has received almost no attention in Deaf Education research. Although more is known about St. Mary’s less is revealed about the history of the Rochfortbride deaf school. While St. Mary’s is not the only Catholic school established for female deaf children, it is one of the major institutions in the history of deaf education in Ireland. The school’s presence has been widely recorded in deaf studies literature but, as this study shows, St. Joseph’s rise to prominence and subsequent decline has largely been unrecorded in academic research.

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