The Association of Translators and Interpreters Ireland (ATII) and the DCU Centre for Translation and Textual Studies are holding an all-day, in-person conference on language and the law next month.

The event, entitled ‘Language and the Law: Interpreting and Translation in Legal Settings’, takes place on Friday 24 May at Dublin City University (8.15am to 5.30pm).

The organisers say that the conference will bring together legal professionals, researchers, trainers in the legal and language arenas, relevant NGOs, and language professionals.

‘Lack of regulation’

The ATII, formerly known as the ITIA, says that the lack of regulation of translation and spoken-language interpreting in Ireland has given rise to concerns about standards, lack of due process, and potential miscarriages of justice.

The conference will focus on the challenges and complex needs inherent in multi-lingual communication in three settings: garda stations, the courts, and international protection.

The event will also address the issue of legal translation in the public, private, and corporate domains, specifically in relation to risk and liability.

Training and qualifications

The conference will also discuss best practice in the training, qualifications, and work of legal translators and interpreters.

Speakers include:

• Barbara Rovan (President of EULITA, the European Legal Interpreters and Translators Association),
• John O’Shea (chair, FIT Europe),
• Professor Lorraine Leeson (Centre for Deaf Studies, TCD),
• Professor Yvonne Daly (Professor of Criminal Law and Evidence, DCU),
• James MacGuill SC, (former president of the Law Society and CCBE President),
• Wendy Lyon (solicitor),
• Dia Silverstein (solicitor), and
• Sarah Jane Aberásturi (legal translator and chair, ATII Certification SC).