Sir, - In relation to the matter of the use of Irish in our courts and the availability of interpretation facilities, the Courts Service is pleased to respond to recent comments made through your Letters page. Firstly, as it is the right of every citizen to give evidence and be cross-examined in Irish, facilities are in place to allow for same. A number of judges are fluent in Irish and will hear evidence presented in the first language. Many others use Irish but request interpreters as they do not want to miss any of the subtle nuances which a language can hold. In addition, a core of staff of the service are Irish speakers and are available.
Interpreters are made available for people who wish to have Irish- English translation, or vice versa, throughout their court hearing. Advance notice should be given to the court office if a person wishes to have these facilities in place.
A contributor to your Letters page (October 19th) has described the name of the service in Irish as incorrect . The name was not translated into Irish by the service but taken from the Courts Service Act 1998. Part 2, Section 4.1 of this Act states: "On the establishment day there shall be a body established to be known as An tSeirbh∅s Ch·irteanna or, in the English language the Courts Service".
As this country becomes diverse in terms of the ethnic makeup of those who live here, arrangements have been made to facilitate the cultural and language differences this presents. The service retains a list of interpreters to provide interpretation services to the Courts.
Arrangements are in place to have interpretation undertaken in 210 languages and dialects. Experienced and reputable organisations undertake this task and there has rarely been any cause for complaint about the quality of the service. Indeed, the very dynamic of the courtroom would make it immediately obvious if there was a problem.
A staff survey has been undertaken throughout court offices to ascertain the numbers of staff who have access to working Irish and to establish the training needs to improve the situation. In keeping with the traditional support of the courts for staff who wish to undertake the study of Irish we are currently designing a series of training options in this regard.
In addition a commitment to bilingualism will be reflected in our customer service action plan together with a set of strategies to ensure its implementation.
In anticipation of proposed legislation in relation to official languages, the Courts Service is arranging to have, in the first instance, the most commonly used forms made available in Irish, followed by the translation into Irish of every form used in court offices.
The service already has hundreds of pages of information about the courts available in Irish on our website www.courts.ie and plans to provide more. Copies of the Courts Service annual report and strategic plan are available in Irish.- Yours, etc.,
Gerry Curran, Media Relations Adviser, The Courts Service, Phoenix Street North, Dublin 7.