A charity providing services for the deaf community, left on the brink of closure due to a funding shortfall, has been “lurching from crisis to crisis” for several years, internal correspondence reveals. The Irish Deaf Society had recently unsuccessfully appealed for an emergency €300,000 in funding from the Health Service Executive (HSE), warning the charity could be forced to close if the grant was not forthcoming. The funding shortfall means the charity is now planning to cut services, particularly in the area of advocacy, and lay off up to five staff members. In an email to HSE officials last December, new chief executive John Sherwin said the charity’s operation had been “lurching from crisis to crisis”. Mr Sherwin told HSE officials last December the threat of “ceasing to exist is now at our doorstep”.

Source: The Irish Times March 12, 2019 03:56 UTC