Michael McDowell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I have considerable sympathy for the points made by Senator Ruane. However, I would make one point. The other amendments in this grouping deal with the possibility of conducting the entire proceedings through ISL. Let us be realistic about this. The great majority of participants in most court cases would not be proficient in ISL and are unlikely to ever become proficient in it. We all get ten years of education in the Irish language, whatever effect it has, and there are difficulties for a lot of judges in conducting cases in the Irish language, which is a deep pity. It will inevitably end up that the Minister's remedy of having an interpreter would be the case. There will never be a case where everybody - witnesses, barristers, solicitors, the judge and the registrar or clerk or whatever - will be able to understand what is going as they are all proficient in ISL. In cases where ISL speakers use the provisions the Minister referred to, there is always going to be an interpreter in court. I wonder whether we are asking too much of the commission to first conduct a study to see how many judges would be required to be proficient in ISL. To say that justifies appointing one person rather than another to a position, for instance in the Supreme Court, is pushing things out, especially since the other members of the Supreme Court would not know what was going on unless the matter was interpreted for them.