SOME 71 languages were used in Irish courts last year, but Irish didn’t even make the top 10, according to the Irish Language Commissioner, An Coimisinéir Teanga.
Many native Irish speakers are unaware of their right to use the first language for court business, said commissioner Seán Ó Cuirreáin. His office is starting a campaign to advise Irish speakers of their statutory rights and to counteract the perception of “compulsory English” in legal affairs.
“It appears that many Irish speakers, even in the strongest Gaeltacht areas, are either unaware of their right to use Irish in court business or remain convinced that it is in their best interests to leave their language rights and preferences aside and opt for English as the default language of the law,” said Mr Ó Cuirreáin.
He said this reluctance is not shared by speakers of other languages. More than 10,000 requests were made to the Courts Service last year for interpreters for 71 different languages.
Polish topped the list, while interpreters for Romanian, Lithuanian, Russian, Mandarin Chinese, Latvian, Portuguese, French, Czech and Arabic were also requested.
The cost of interpreting in Irish was less than €2,000 in total during 2006 and fell further to €1,012 in 2007, according to official figures provided by the Courts Service to An Coimisinéir Teanga.
The total bill for more than 70 languages is believed to be in the region of €2 million annually.
“These figures speak for themselves,” Mr Ó Cuirreáin said.
“In some cases, interpretation is not required where the judge and other participants are fluent in Irish, but the percentage of such cases is negligible on an annual basis and in a national context.”