Madam, - We note that Lionbridge Ireland is the preferred bidder for the four-year tender for interpreting in the Courts Service (The Irish Times, June 7th). We hope this will lead to improvements in the standard of interpreting in the courts.
It will be a difficult task to supply interpreters in 210 languages across the country. It will be even more difficult to ensure that all interpreters work to a code of ethics, understand court procedures and terminology and interpret accurately.
We are concerned at the low levels of competency that the Courts Service is prepared to accept. Just because a language is rare should not mean that speakers of that language are discriminated against.
It is now time for the Courts Service to think seriously about interpreting and engage in some forward planning. To date the service has maintained that interpreting provided by untrained, untested interpreters poses no problems.
Yet in the UK the failure rate in the Diploma in Public Service Interpreting is 67 per cent. In the US the failure rate for the Federal Court Interpreter Certification Examination is 96 per cent. The reason for these high failure rates is because legal interpreting is specialised and has to be of a very high standard.
Defendants in Irish courts should have access to the same level of interpreting as those in other jurisdictions. - Yours, etc,
MARY PHELAN, Honorary Secretary, Irish Translators' and Interpreters' Association, Parnell Square, Dublin 1.