A BARRISTER has voiced his reservations about a new court recording system which is to be introduced to the southwestern circuit, replacing the skill of the stenographer.
A lawyer at the Circuit Criminal Court expressed concern yesterday that sometimes the accents, pronunciations and place names in Kerry might cause problems for the new system.
The new digital audio recording of courts, the contract for which was awarded to Fujitsu in January, is already piloted in some courts and means transcripts can be played back within the court if needed.
The court in Tralee heard the switch to audio recording was a watershed in criminal proceedings.
Until now trained stenographers used a specialised shorthand system to keep verbatim recordings of court exchanges, later transcribing their recordings into written form.
Paying tribute to the role of the stenographer, barrister John O'Sullivan said most of his colleagues deplored the change to audio recording of proceedings.
"Sometimes in trials, our place names and accents in Kerry are difficult to understand. How are they to be translated by this new technology. Any difficulties that arose until now we sorted out with the stenographers," Mr O'Sullivan said.
"I am not at all happy with this development."
Mr O'Sullivan also paid tribute to the stenographers in the circuit.
Judge Carroll Moran said he regretted the change. "It is a watershed in the criminal system."