Dr Róisín Á Costello BL

Buíoch as na cesiteanna (agus craic) iontach ó ár comharsanna inné - a really wonderful afternoon speaking about Irish language rights w/ our neighbours as part of @tcddublin.bsky.social Té & Plé community events in Unit 18. Go leor daoine le cúpla focail & go leor eile le Gaeilge den scotch!

Nice to make a little appearance in the majority judgment delivered by Murray J in Hyland v Commissioner of An Garda Síochána [2025] IESC 43 yesterday!

The Roundtable is always such an excellent showcase of interdisciplinary work - and I hope this trip across the Irish Sea - and this year's theme - will bring even more people into what is a really fantastic network of colleagues working in law and the humanities. Bígí linn!

Not our first event in time - but our first announced event!

More to come in the following weeks but I am really thrilled to be hosting this in Ireland in 2026.

the EU parliament is looking for a native-level irish speaker for a press officer traineeship, starting next march

it's paid (€1660/month, no tax) and is a pretty sweet opportunity to see how the EU sausage is made, and a chance to try brussels (if you're not already here)

deadline end of october!

We cooperated with RTE PrimeTime over the last year on this very significant story about RTB data exposing the movements of Irish people, including military and political personnel.

Link to this morning's preview piece is here --> www.rte.ie/news/primeti...

three men in armor are standing next to each other with the words so it begins ALT: three men in armor are standing next to each other with the words so it begins

First day of teaching term

New Banksy mural appears at Royal Courts of Justice The artwork, which shows a judge hitting a protester with a gavel, was confirmed by the elusive street artist.

Banksy just solved so many academics' dilemmas over a book cover. They even get to make a knowing aside about the gavel.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Tharr is a beith bródúil as mo beag-nach-fear-chéile for successfully defending his PhD earlier this week. Sár-fear.

Interpreting and language services in the courts: Public Services Committee report The House of Lords Public Services Committee’s March 2025 report highlighted perceived issues affecting court interpreting services, including the remuneration and support for interpreters, court tech...

In a busy semester this passed me by - but delighted to see some of my @artsandhums.bsky.social research with @aberuni.bsky.social colleagues cited in the House of Lords report on interpreting and language services in courtrooms lordslibrary.parliament.uk/interpreting....

My love of the em dash is not up for debate

I’ll be on @newstalkfm.bsky.social at 3.30 today speaking about language rights in courtrooms and what the Irish court system needs to do to accommodate languages other than English - including the national and first official language 🇮🇪

We have so much work to do in Ireland in recognising, and regulating, this area. It is not only a language rights issue, it also a fundamental factor in ensuring a fair trial and access to justice

That's before a jury is involved, or we speak about how the sex, body language, tone, and physical location of an interpreter in the room can influence how a speaker's testimony, or speech is received by those listening to them

Judges and barristers, equally, have no training on how to interact with interpreters - pacing, choice of words, seeking clarification, structuring questions - all change when an interpreter is engaged.

Interpreters in the Irish system have no mandated training on how to interact with barristers, judges, on legal language and meaning, on the ethics of interpretation in courtroom settings and the specific obligations owed to the parties in the case

A huge and very practical problem for the Irish system is our lack of any regulation of those who act as interpreters in courtrooms. Unlike other jurisdictions there is no set qualification, training or central register of those who can interpret in court

Based on research over the last 2 year funded by the AHRC and in collaboration with colleagues at @aberuni.bsky.social on the rights of Irish and Welsh speakers in court.

Opinion: Kneecap trial spotlights challenges for Irish speakers in British and Irish courts Many would rather use the language they know best to answer questions on which their liberty or livelihood could depend

I've written about the shortcomings of our current system of interpretation for minority language speakers in court - what we can learn from neighbouring countries - and the problems Irish speakers still face using their preferred language www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2025...

I have finally recovered my password for bulky. Haha. Too late for Flann this year!