I have found an old article from 1998 about a court ruling that all Irish speaking juries would be unrepresentative of Ireland and so defendants don't have the right to face an Irish speaking jury. See http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.irish/browse_thread/thread/9f40b6148f 30b536/1268a2f824b31f04?lnk=st&q=Irish+Gaelic&rnum=6&hl=zh-CN#1268a2f824b31f04

I am wondering how the latest Language Act affected this. Does anyone know?

You could still have someone interpret from Irish to English for them, so I don't see that it would be that big an issue.

Well that's not the same: your tone of voice and exact choice of words is all part of your defence. Jurors may infer you're lying or telling the truth from these little things. But if you speak through an interpreter, they can only infer them from the interpreter's voice. Anyhow, why is it unreasonable to expect jurors to speak Ireland's official language?

"Anyhow, why is it unreasonable to expect jurors to speak Ireland's official language?"

The reality is that very few jurors would have enough of the language to be able to discharge their obligations. And those who did would probably find themselves permanently on jury duty

Couldn't each juror have individual intepretors?

Well interpreters are regularly used in Irish courts these days for those who speak neither Irish nor English, so I don't see how it can be that different for Irish. Does the case become invalid if the jury cannot understand the case of the Nigerian, Polish, Lithuanian defendant? Of course not.

A Mhic Leinn

An úsáideoir cláraithe thú anois?

A Suimhneas,


'Sea, I've always said I would never join an organization that would have me as a member, but I've decided to put my pseudonymical days behind me and am now relegated to having an underscore as part of my permanent pseudonym.

"How can it be that different for Irish", a deir fear óg. Bhuel, is é an Ghaeilge an teanga ofígiúil na hÉireann. Polish and Lithuanian are not official languages in Ireland and Ireland can't be expected to cater to them. But Irish is the official language - the one with pride of place, supposedly.

A Mhic Lucht Leanúna Groucho Marx,

Tá fáilte romhat ach tá brón orm go bfhuil scaipeadh ar do chuid ainmneacha cleite

That's true Kieran, but from the purely legal standpoint of giving someone a fair trial, providing Irish interpreters to an English speaking jury seems perfectly resonable as is done with any language.

Doesn't the fact that this thread is being conducted in English demonstrate that to provide for legal cases wholly through Irish is impractical in reality

Do scríobh Mac_léinn

'Sea, I've always said I would never join an organization that would have me as a member, but I've decided to put my pseudonymical days behind me and am now relegated to having an underscore as part of my permanent pseudonym.

Drat; I was just getting used to calling you Shawneen.

Go raibh maith agat a Shuaimhneas. A Chionaodh agus Shuaimhneas, tá sibh an ghreannmhar! Tá aithne agam go bhuil fhios agaibh faoi seo, ach greannmhar = funny.

Tá aithne agam go bhuil fhios agaibh faoi seo, ach greannmhar = funny

ach i gCorcaigh.

quote:

Tá aithne agam go bhuil fhios agaibh...

"Fios" insan dá áit, le do thoil:

Tá a fhios agam go bhfuil a fhios agaibh...

Ní dóigh liom gur féidir "Tá aithne agam go..." a rá in aon chomhthéacs. If you absolutely need to keep from repeating "fios", you could say "Is feasach mé go...".

Go raibh maith agat a Dennis - an léitheoir intinne thú? I was trying to avoid saying "I know that you know."

As nice as it would be for a case being heard in Irish to have an Irish speaking jury, the low numbers of really fluent Irish speakers would have to be on call when someone wanted a case. Not quite as bad as perminant jury duty but slightly unfair to those clever people who might have to sit cases more than they would prefer. It wouldn't be as bad as perminant jury duty because cases heard in Irish are not terribly common as a general observation.

How are juries chosen in Ireland anyway? Is it like in America where everyone gets a notice in the mail periodically that says it is their turn to be available to be on a jury.

Beir bua agus beannacht

Pé scéal é, tá aithne ag (geal le) gach Gaeilgeoir in Éirinn ar ghach Gaeilgeoir eile.....

Tá freagra do cheiste anseo, a Ríona

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/categories-ga/justice/the-legal-system/judicia ry/jury_service?set_language=ga

Go raibh maith agat a Aonghuis. It sounds similar to the way it is done in Meiricea, except that here each jurror is given a tiny bit of money per day, something like 10 dollars, makes me think that the amount hasn't been changed since a long time ago.

Beir bua agus beannacht

I think I should have said, "is í an Ghaeilge an teanga ofígiúil na hÉireann", but I haven't tried to generate much Irish myself so I'm still in the early stages...

Fair play Kieran, you raise quite a valid point..

D'ya know what you should do? Send a little ríomhphost to the language commissioner, in english if you wish, and you should get a definite answer there!



Domhnall