RTÉ cancel sign language broadcast of national anthem during All-Ireland final
RTÉ has said that it had to cancel plans to air an Irish Sign Language broadcast of the national anthem during today's All Ireland Football final, due to the unavailability of a signer.
RTÉ had planned to broadcast a signing of the entire anthem on RTÉ News Now ahead of the Dublin v Tyrone match in Croke Park.
Protests were held last week outside RTÉ studios in both Dublin and Cork over the failure of the national broadcaster to show ISL interpreters on its programming.
Protesters called on RTÉ to broadcast in full the ISL version of the national anthem before throw-in.
RTÉ agreed to show the ISL version of the national anthem in full on its News Now channel, while a variety of shots would be shown on RTÉ 2.
In a statement, RTÉ said that no signer was available for a full in-studio signing.
It said: "Signing ISL for Broadcast is a specialist skill and the number of signers is limited.
"Over recent days, RTÉ has contacted many signers, both within and outside our rosters. Unfortunately no signer has been able to make themselves available for a full in-studio signing, which will now not take place."
