A Cheann Comhairle
On behalf of the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Mr. Brian Lenihan, T.D., who is unavailable due to a family bereavement, I move: that the Bill be read a second time.
The aim of this Bill is to promote the better use of the Irish language by legal practitioners and the provision of legal services through Irish. The Bill provides that the Honorable Society of the King’s Inns and the Law Society shall establish advanced courses of study in the Irish language for legal professionals and shall hold examinations on that course at least once a year. The courses are intended to enable barristers and solicitors to conduct their business through Irish.
In addition the Bill provides that registers, to be established and maintained by the King’s Inns and the Law Society, detailing the contact details of those practitioners who are able to provide legal services through the Irish language shall be made available to the public. There will also be a course of instruction by King’s Inns and the Law Society in Irish legal terminology and the understanding of legal texts in Irish for all those doing the barrister-at-law degree course and the Law Society examinations.
The Legal Practitioners (Qualification) Act 1929 provides that no person may be admitted by the Chief Justice to practise as a barrister-at-law in Irish courts unless he or she satisfies the Chief Justice, by such evidence as the Chief Justice shall prescribe, that he or she possesses a competent knowledge of the Irish language. "Competent knowledge" is defined as such a degree of oral and written proficiency in the use of the language as is sufficient to enable a legal practitioner efficiently to receive instructions, to advise clients, to examine witnesses and to follow proceedings in the Irish language.
While the obligation to ensure a proficiency in Irish in the case of any barrister who wishes to be called to the Bar lies with the Chief Justice there is no requirement to include Irish as either an optional or obligatory subject in the King’s Inns barrister-at-law degree course. Any tuition or record of proficiency required is given outside the degree course and arranged so that the Chief Justice can fulfil his or her statutory function. The Minister is satisfied that it is anomalous that the Chief Justice would have such a function in modern times and that the operation of the Act itself gives rise to too many anomalies. The Bill provides for the repeal of the 1929 Act and implements, in large part, King’s Inns proposals.
The Government shares the Minister’s view that the existing arrangements can be improved so as to meet the objective of ensuring that persons wishing to exercise their constitutional right to use Irish in proceedings before the courts can do so. The Minister believes that the provisions in the Bill will improve the situation by enhancing training in the Irish language for both barristers and solicitors and should ensure proficiency in Irish for a greater number of legal professionals than the present arrangements provide.
The House will be aware that Irish became an official and working language of the European Union on 1 January, 2007. EU procedures require that Jurist Linguists verify legislation in all official languages, including Irish, before texts can be adopted by the Council and the European Parliament. The Minister is glad to report that his colleague in Government, Minister Ó’ Cuív, has developed, in conjunction with King’s Inns, a targeted training course designed to enable participants to become Jurist Linguists in Irish. The course is already underway and it is anticipated that successful participants will be available to take the EU selection tests from the end of this year. The Minister also understands that the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs is working with King’s Inns on developing a barrister-at-law course to be taught entirely through Irish.
The 1929 Act also applied to solicitors until new arrangements were introduced in the Solicitors Act 1954. To qualify for admission as a solicitor the Act of1954 requires students to undertake two examinations in Irish. The first examination applies to persons seeking to be bound under indentures of apprenticeship and the second applies to persons wishing to be admitted as solicitors. The purpose of the second examination is to "secure that persons who pass it have a competent knowledge of the Irish language, that is to say, such a degree of oral and written proficiency in the use of the language as is sufficient to enable a solicitor efficiently to receive instructions, to advise clients, to examine witnesses and to follow proceedings in the Irish language". This is the same competency test as used in the 1929 Act for barristers.
At present, the Law Society does not itself provide tuition in the Irish language to apprentice solicitors. The two examinations comprise written tests on prescribed texts (which have nothing to do with the law), essays on everyday topics and oral tests on proficiency in the Irish language.
The Minister’s intention is to bring some conformity to the proficiency requirements for both barristers and solicitors. The Bill therefore will also amend the statutory requirements for Irish language competence for solicitors
The Minister has asked me at this stage to mention the Private Members Bill that is before the House in the name of Deputy Brian O’Shea. While that Bill, in effect, recognises inadequacies in the current law it does not in any way provide for a proper alternative and is short on detail. Certainly, the Minister considers that the provisions of the Bill are in conflict with the Government’s policy on the promotion of the Irish language and, more particularly, its aim to ensure that persons who wish to avail of a legal service through the Irish language will be able to do so.
Sections 1 and 2 contain the main details of my Bill. Section 1 relates to provisions for barristers-at-law. The section provides that the Council of King’s Inns shall have regard to Government policy on bilingualism and take all reasonable steps to ensure that an adequate number of barristers-at-law are able to practice the law through the Irish language (subsection 2).
The Minister believes that it is important that all legal professionals should have available to them specific courses in Irish, whether or not they wish to practice the law through the language. For that reason he has made provision in subsection (3) that the King’s Inns shall hold a course on legal terminology in Irish for students undertaking the barrister-at-law degree course The course will be designed to enable practitioners to identify the nature of the service being sought and to, where appropriate, facilitate a referral to a practitioner competent to provide a service through Irish (subsection 3(a)). The Minister is aware that there will be some persons studying for the barrister-at-law degree who have at the date of the repeal of the Legal Practitioners (Qualifications) Act 1929 complied with the terms of section 3 of that Act and in those cases the persons shall be deemed to have attended the course on legal terminology (subsection 3(b)).
For those who wish to practice the law through the medium of the Irish language, the section goes on to provide that the Council of King’s Inns shall ensure that an advanced course on the practice of law through the Irish language shall be included as an optional subject in the barrister-at-law course (subsection (4)). This advanced course shall be open to others who are not students but who wish to obtain a competence enabling them to practice law through Irish. (subsection (5)). The Minister believes that it makes sense to ensure that people applying for admission to the advanced course in Irish should have a reasonable level of proficiency in the Irish language before they undertake the course. For that reason, subsection (6) provides that such persons may be required to demonstrate to the King’s Inns that he or she already has a level of proficiency in the Irish language.
Naturally, there has to be some mechanism whereby the ability of people attending the advanced course in Irish can be measured. To that end, subsection (7) provides that the King’s Inns shall hold an examination in the practice of law through Irish shall at least once a year. Only those persons who have undertaken the advanced course shall be permitted to sit the examination (subsection (8)).
The Minister believes it is vital that the public are made aware that certain legal practitioners have the ability to provide legal services through the Irish language. Therefore he has provided, in subsection (9) that the King’s Inns shall establish and maintain a register to be known as the Irish Language Register (King’s Inns) (subsection (9)).
The section further provides that the Council of the King’s Inns shall enter on the register the name and contact details of barristers-at-law who have passed the examination (subsection (10)). The section provides that the register must be kept up to date and a copy of the register must be made available to the Law Society (subsection (11)). The register must also be open to the public and published on the King’s Inns website (subsection (12)). These provisions will ensure that the existence and content of the Register is disseminated as widely as possible. Finally, the section provides that a report shall be submitted to the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform on an annual basis as to the operation of the section in the preceding year (subsection (13)).
Section 2 of the Bill relates to Irish language proficiency for solicitors. A new subsection (2A) is inserted into section 40 of the Solicitors Act 1954. The Minister wants the provisions relating to solicitors to be broadly similar to those relating to barristers and, in essence, section 2 mirrors the provisions contained in section 1 of the Bill.
The section provides that the Law Society shall have regard to Government policy on bilingualism and take all reasonable steps to ensure that an adequate number of solicitors are able to practice the law through the Irish language. In addition, the Law Society shall hold a course on legal terminology through Irish in order for practitioners to identify the nature of the service being sought and to, where appropriate, facilitate a referral to a practitioner competent to provide a service through Irish. Persons undertaking the Professional Practice Course who have at the date of the commencement of the section, passed both of the examinations in the Irish language provided for by regulations made under section 40(3) of the Solicitors Act 1954 shall be deemed to have attended the course on legal terminology.
For those people wishing to provide a legal service through the Irish language, the section provides that the Law Society shall ensure that an advanced course on the practice of law through the Irish language shall be included as an optional subject for people undertaking the Professional Practice Course. This advanced course shall be open to others who are not students but who wish to obtain a competence enabling them to practice law through Irish. Persons applying for admission to the advanced course in Irish may be required to demonstrate to the Society that he or she already has a level of proficiency in the Irish language.
It is intended that the Law Society shall hold an examination in the practice of law through Irish shall at least once each year and that only those persons who have undertaken the advanced course shall be permitted to sit the examination. The section goes on to provide that the Law Society shall establish and maintain a register to be known as the Irish Language Register (Law Society). The Society shall enter on the register the name and contact details of solicitors who have passed the examination and shall ensure that the register must be kept up to date and that a copy of the register must be made available to the King’s Inns. The register must also be open to the public and published on the Law Society website. A report shall be submitted to the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform on an annual basis as to the operation of the section in the preceding year. Subsection 40(3) of the Solicitors Act 1954 is deleted.
Section 3 of the Bill provides that the Legal Practitioners (Qualification) Act 1929 is repealed while section 4 is a standard provision dealing with the Short Title of the Bill, commencement provisions and the collective citation.
The Government is determined in this Bill to facilitate and promote the Irish language in our legal system. The Minister is convinced that the provisions contained in this Bill will lead to a significant improvement in the teaching of Irish by King’s Inns and the Law Society. He is confident that the Bill will better ensure that there will be an adequate number of solicitors and barristers available to provide legal services in Irish to any clients that require such services.
On behalf of the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, I commend the Bill to the House.