Bill planned to end mandatory Irish exam for lawyers

A legal requirement for lawyers to sit an Irish exam before they can operate as solicitors or barristers will be ended under legislation introduced in the Dáil.

Trainee lawyers will instead be required to "attend" a course on "legal terminology" in Irish, according to Minister of State Pat "The Cope" Gallagher, who introduced the Legal Practitioners (Irish Language) Bill. The Bill also establishes voluntary advanced legal courses for those fluent in Irish and creates a register for barristers and solicitors specifically qualified to provide legal services in Irish.

Labour Gaeltacht spokesman Brian O'Shea, who had previously introduced his own private member's Bill to remove the mandatory Irish exam, accused the Government of replacing one compulsory element with another.

"It is clear that Fianna Fáil cannot bring itself to desist from the fundamentalist addiction to compulsion as regards the Irish language whatever the context or however inappropriate is compulsion in that context," he said.

Fine Gael justice spokesman Charlie Flanagan said it should be obligatory for district judges, state solicitors and all other legal appointees in Gaeltacht areas to be fluent in Irish.

Outlining the provisions of the Bill, Mr Gallagher said its aim "is to promote the better use of the Irish language" by lawyers and the provision of legal services through Irish.

The Bill provides that King's Inns and the Law Society "establish advanced courses of study in the Irish language" for lawyers and hold exams at least once a year. The Bill also provides for a register of lawyers fluent in Irish and for "a course of instruction" in "Irish legal terminology and the understanding of legal texts Irish" for trainee barristers and solicitors.

Mr Flanagan said the Bill "should include a requirement that persons applying for State jobs in Gaeltacht areas . . . must be proficient in Irish. District Court judges, State solicitors and other employees of full-time law centres must demonstrate a working knowledge of the language before being appointed. Legal services should be provided in Irish in Gaeltacht areas and those engaged in the administration of justice should not have to rely on interpreters."

Mr O'Shea criticised the "mindset which maintains that compulsion always comes before the Irish language in the order of things. This flawed perception has led the Minister to this legislative fudge but like all such fudges, trying to please everybody often pleases nobody".

However, Minister for the Gaeltacht Éamon Ó Cuív said it was a "reasonable premise for a legal practitioner to have a knowledge of basic legal terminology in Irish", especially if a solicitor in one practice sent a document in Irish to another solicitor "with a heading 'Urghaire Cúirte', or better still, 'Urghaire Ard-Chúirte'. It would be fairly basic legal and customer service that one would immediately know that an urghaire is an injunction and the Ard-Chúirt is the High Court, and that one had better get somebody fast to read the document and find out what the hell was going on."