Can anyone tell me roughly what the following means,

"is fearr focal sa ch'uirt n'a punt sa sparan"

Many thanks in anticipation and keep up the good work !!!

Is fearr focal sa chúirt ná punt sa sparán.

A word in the court is better than a pound in the purse.

Not sure what that's trying to convey... ?

I see a number of possibilities:

It's better to be spoken well of than to be rich.

What you say is more important than what you have.

The truth is a better defense than bribery.

It means that being well connected is more effective than just having money. A different but parallel saying is "It's not what you know, it's who you know" (which I've heard applied to the cronyism in Mexico -- not that the U.S. doesn't have its share of cronyism, too, apparently).

You here that one - "It's not what you know...." alot here where I live. I've even heard it taken further with, "It's not who you know - it's who you bl**".