The Courts Service has opened negotiations with Lionbridge Ireland interpreting service to provide interpretation services for the courts.
This will replace the system where translation services were provided from a panel of reputable agencies and companies with whom it established links over several years.
The Courts Service recently went to international tender to seek bidders for a single-service provider of interpretation services. It selected Lionbridge Ireland Ltd as the preferred bidder after it submitted the most economic tender. It is hoped to sign contracts within weeks.
According to the Courts Service, Lionbridge is the world's biggest language solutions company. It has 4,000 employees globally, with 500 in Ireland.
It will supply interpreters for the most frequently-used languages in court: Cantonese, Mandarin, French, Romanian and Russian.