Ms Angela Denning:

We provide sign language interpretation in all case types. We have assisted jurors. We had a deaf juror who participated and acted, and we also currently support a barrister who is doing her training, as members may have seen in the newspapers recently. We provide Irish Sign Language but, as with all interpreters, it is sometimes difficult to get an interpreter, even for other languages. It is about supply and demand and as the demand rises, more people will train to become interpreters.

With regard to the interpretation of other languages, we know that 750,000 people in this country do not speak Irish or English at home. Anybody who is in criminal proceedings is entitled to an interpreter as a matter of course. We are not funded to provide interpretation in civil or family law proceedings so, for that reason, we have decided to use our website to try to provide information to people in those areas in as easy a format as possible. We use videos, infographics and things that do not necessarily need language to help people to understand. We currently have all of that information in plain language. We are also working on a project to consolidate our forms, particularly for District Court family law, to make them far more easily understood. It is more like a passport form, where people fill in boxes, rather than language with the legalese that would have been traditional. It is to try to make it easier for people.

With regard to wheelchair access, 69 out of 103 court venues are accessible at the moment, although that survey was done in 2023. I asked our internal audit team to do an audit of our disability services and while that is not quite finished yet, I got the first draft in preparation for this meeting. The draft code of practice for accessible public buildings, which will come out, refers to independent accessibility so people would not need somebody to assist them in accessing, for example, doors, bathrooms and so on. We will go back to check whether they are independently accessible. That 69 will go up to 70 as we are doing work on Mallow this summer. That will be accessible as a consequence of the work being done and it will improve accessibility there.