Setting the public record

The recent and ongoing tribunals may be bad news for some of the State's top politicians but for the students on the stenography, court reporting course in the Bray Institute of Further Education, tribunals have greatly increased their employment opportunities.

The course is run in association with Doyle Court Reporting Agency and lasts for two years, after which successful students are awarded the National Council for Vocational Awards Level II qualification. Currently, this is the only course of its kind in Ireland and Britain so graduates tend to be in very high demand and are employed in a number of areas from court and tribunal reporting to television stations for live translation and captioning.

The course was set up in 1984 in an attempt to alleviate the shortage in what was, even then, a growing industry. However it is an area which has enjoyed continued growth and is still suffering from a shortage of qualified graduates. This has proved to be a problem for the Doyle Court Reporting Agency, which is contracted to cover the Flood, Moriarty and Lindsay tribunals. According to Padraig Fearail, the senior reporter with the agency, "this is a problem as we have lots of work but not enough people to do it".

Stenography and court reporting is a very lucrative business and graduates can look forward to an income of between £20,000 to £60,000 per annum. According to Agnes Gallagher, the course co-ordinator, students who achieve a speed of 200 words per minute are guaranteed employment. She said students said are employed in this State and abroad. Many other graduates are self employed and work for agencies on a freelance basis.

Students are trained in Realtime (live) reporting, using modern computer equipment to provide subtitles and captioning for television stations, especially for television programmes and sporting events. Doyle Court Reporting Agency also offer a Realtime service to the tribunals, which enables judges and other members of the tribunals to read the proceedings live on a screen as the stenographers take it down.

Students also study subjects such as business law, legal studies, IT, word processing, political studies and communications to improve their general level of education. The first year of the course is taken up with learning the theory side and then in second year, the students build up their speed.

While stenography is a very well-paid job, Agnes also describes it as "very strenuous" as it can be difficult to reach the speeds required and not all students will graduate with these speeds. She estimates that "in general, approximately three-quarters of students will reach these speeds". However while the course lasts two years, it also facilitates students who need more time to build up their speeds by allowing them to stay on for an extra year.

Padraig has had many years' experience and says it is a difficult area to succeed in, but he is also quick to stress that it is also well rewarded.

Padraig says: "We don't just get Leaving Cert applicants, we also get college graduates with degrees."

The requirements for the course are a grade C or better in English Leaving Cert at higher level and a Grade C in maths ordinary level. As it is a PLC course, there is no CAO points threshold for performance and interested students should apply directly to Bray Institute of Further Education.