Judges warned impact of Irish in courts could undermine confidence in justice
Declassified files also show senior police officer Judith Gillespie raising concerns.
Judges warned in 2004 that demands caused by the use of the Irish language in courts in Northern Ireland had the potential to undermine public confidence in the justice system.
Declassified files also show senior police officer Judith Gillespie raising concerns when she said that she feared delays caused by translation services would be open to abuse.
The files show that the Northern Ireland Courts Service had set up a working group in 2004 to consider the use of Irish in courts and tribunals as part of the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages.
This included opening a consultation process including the judiciary, legal professional bodies, public bodies and Irish language groups.
The file contains a response to the consultation from the Council of the County Court Judges in April which said their obligation was to ensure that people were able to understand legal proceedings they were involved in.
It added: “In terms of the use of a particular minority language, Irish, this may give rise to the question why other languages should not be accorded the same facilities.
“That is particularly so when, for example, there is a growing Chinese community and, in one area, a sizeable Portuguese community.
“Given that the members of these communities may have great difficulties with English (that may not be their usual language), there is an argument that funds should be channelled towards their needs in priority to the needs of others for whom the use of a particular language would be one of choice rather than necessity.”
The council warned that the expense of translation services and from delays to proceedings would “inevitably be enormous”.
The response concluded: “In the balance of rights we would have to express concerns that the impact of such a demand will have an adverse impact on the provision of a legal process that is fair and timely.
“That will have the serious potential to undermine the confidence of the public, from whatever part of the community, in the administration of justice.”
It added: “In that balance, we would respectfully opine, that where a person appearing before the Court understands English, as the vast majority of Irish speakers would, then that person’s rights to a fair trial are not affected by the use of English.”
The file also includes a response by then Police Service of Northern Ireland assistant chief constable Ms Gillespie in which she raises concern over the potential delay to proceedings caused by the need for translations.
She said: “I feel that even for an Irish language court there would still be a need to use translators and interpreters for Irish to English to assist court officials and police officers who are not Irish speakers.
“Should persons be given the option of a preferred language when English would be no barrier to the fair administration of justice it would only slow down the whole process and, I would suspect, be open to abuse.”
Proposals which would allow the use of Irish in courts were contained in the New Decade New Approach deal which restored the Stormont powersharing institutions in January 2020 following a period of suspension.
Earlier this year Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn signed a commencement order which repealed a penal law from 1737 which made it a criminal offence to use any language other than English in a court in the region.
