The High Court has rejected a bid by a native Irish speaker from Rosmuc, County Galway, for official Irish translations of Garda witness statements before his District Court trial in Dublin.
Stiofán Ó Conaire, who was living in Dublin, had been charged on 23 January 2006 with an offence under section 49 of the Road Traffic Act 1961, as amended. He told the District Court that he wished to conduct his defence through Irish.
After earlier judicial review proceedings, the State provided Irish translations of a number of legal and case documents. When the matter returned to the District Court, however, two disclosed witness statements were supplied in English. A custody record was supplied in Irish.
Ó Conaire sought Irish translations of the witness statements. District Judge Uinsin Mac Gruairc refused the request, taking the view that oral interpretation facilities at trial were sufficient. Ó Conaire then brought fresh judicial review proceedings.
Mr Justice O’Neill accepted that Article 8 of the Constitution imposes obligations on the State concerning the status of Irish and that a person is entitled to conduct legal proceedings in either official language without discrimination.
The judge drew a distinction, however, between documents such as court rules, which have legal force and must be available in both languages, and documents generated by parties to litigation. Witness statements, he held, fell into the latter category.
The prosecution was entitled to use its chosen official language for its own case, just as Ó Conaire was entitled to use Irish for his defence. Neither side could impose its language choice on the other.
The court also noted that Ó Conaire was not claiming that the absence of translations would make his trial unfair. The case concerned language rights alone.
The High Court therefore refused the declarations and orders sought. The ruling left intact Ó Conaire’s right to conduct his defence in Irish, but did not require the State to translate the English-language witness statements for him.