Ireland

Phone service will translate voice to text for those with hearing disability

Eir, Three, Sky, Tesco Mobile, Virgin Media and Vodafone

James Hubbard, National Disability Authority, Tom O Donnell, Irish Text Relay Service (eir) and ComReg commissioner Gerry Fahy celebrating the launch of the ITRS app.
James Hubbard, National Disability Authority, Tom O Donnell, Irish Text Relay Service (eir) and ComReg commissioner Gerry Fahy celebrating the launch of the ITRS app.
Sarah Burns
Tue Aug 07 2018 - 16:07

A text relay service which translates text into voice and vice versa helping facilitate those with a hearing disability, is now available to Irish customers.

Calls are relayed through ITRS (Irish Text Relay Service) agents who perform the translation and the service is available 24 hours a day. Customers of Eir, Three, Sky, Tesco Mobile, Virgin Media and Vodafone can use the service, which is operated by Eir and funded by participating companies.

ComReg, which regulates the communicaions industry, said the new service is a supplement to the existing Minicom service.

Gerry Fahy, commissioner at ComReg said it is “an important step forward in ensuring a more inclusive market for all customers”.

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To use the ITRS app, customers must first register the phone number they will be using to make and receive calls.

A step by step guide is available on the ITRS website www.itrs.ie.

Sarah Burns

Sarah Burns

Sarah Burns is a reporter for The Irish Times