About Us
Deaf Communications ltd
Who We Are
Deaf Communications Ltd
An Irish private limited company incorporated in 2009, operating out of Dublin. The company specialises in adult education, focusing on Irish Sign Language (ISL) resources and Deaf community awareness.
01.
— ISL
An Irish company dedicated to providing high‑quality Irish Sign Language (ISL) learning materials, courses, and Deaf awareness training.
02.
— Community‑Focused Organisation
Supporting the Deaf community, educators, and the public by promoting accessible communication.
03.
— Experienced Leadership
Led by experts with decades of experience in ISL teaching, curriculum development, and Deaf Studies, ensuring trusted and professional resources.
Meet the Team
Patrick A Matthews
Along with his business partner, Pauline McMahon, set up Deaf Communications to provide workshops on Irish Sign Language (ISL), ISL linguistics, Deaf inclusion training, ISL classes and so on. They also produce ISL materials and were commissioned to translate the relevant chapters from the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse Report (The Ryan Report) into ISL.
Founded in 2009, we specialise in adult education, Irish Sign Language (ISL) learning, and Deaf community awareness.
Patrick A. Matthews is a leading figure in Irish Sign Language (ISL) education and Deaf Studies in Ireland. A former Assistant Professor at the Centre for Deaf Studies, Trinity College Dublin, he has been central to the development of ISL teaching since the programme began in 2001. Patrick was the first Deaf person to conduct academic research on ISL and has spent decades promoting, teaching, and advancing ISL within both Deaf and hearing communities.
He has extensive experience teaching ISL across all levels, serves as the Chief Advising Examiner for the Leaving Certificate Applied in ISL, and is the current Chair of the Council of ISL Teachers (CISLT). Patrick co‑developed the Junior Cycle Short Course in ISL and has contributed to national curriculum standards through his work with QQI on ISL Levels 3, 4, and 5. He holds both an M.Litt. and an M.Phil. in Applied Linguistics from Trinity College Dublin.
Pauline McMahon
graduated from the Centre of Deaf Studies, Trinity College Dublin in 2007 as an ISL/English interpreter. She interprets in a wide variety of settings including statutory and voluntary sectors, health care, education, training and employment, community events, amateur theatre and conference settings, musical concerts – to name but a few. She is qualified in Cambridge CELTA (Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) and ACELS (Accreditation and Co-ordination of English Language Services) – the advisory council for English language schools. She has a keen interest in translation and was Project Manager for the translation of the relevant chapters from the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse Report (CICA – Ryan Report) into Irish Sign Language.
Deaf Communications have been funded to provide two ‘Train the Trainer courses to Teach Basic ISL’ over the last few years. One was in partnership with the Mid West ISL Hub group and the other more recently was with SOLAS – Adult Literacy for Life, Tipperary County Council, HSE, Tipperary Community Services Centre.