Systemic Failures in Ireland's Court Translation Services Exposed

A damning investigation has revealed that a court interpreter whose translation errors led to the overturning of Ireland's first female genital mutilation (FGM) conviction continued working on over 240 cases for the Irish Court Services, raising serious questions about our justice system's commitment to fair trials.

A Family Destroyed by State Negligence

The interpreter was central to the 2019 trial of Sayeed and Halawa, a couple from French-speaking Africa who were wrongfully convicted and imprisoned for the FGM of their 21-month-old daughter Ayeesha. The defence consistently argued that the child's injury was accidental, caused by falling on a toy at home.

The Court of Appeal found "serious, and potentially far-reaching, inaccuracies" in the interpretation, setting aside the convictions in 2021. This marked the first time in Irish legal history that translation issues alone were grounds for a successful Circuit Court appeal.

Yet despite this landmark ruling exposing systemic failures, the same interpreter continued working in criminal proceedings until December 2023, handling cases across District, Circuit, and High Courts nationwide.

Scale of Potential Injustice Revealed

The Courts Service confirmed the interpreter assisted in at least 246 court cases between December 2016 and December 2023:

• 146 District Court cases
• 62 Circuit Court cases
• 26 High Court cases, predominantly in the Central Criminal Court
• 12 unattributable cases

Shockingly, at least 40 of these cases occurred after the successful appeal judgment, spanning 19 locations nationwide. This represents a catastrophic failure of institutional learning and accountability.

Expert Analysis Exposes Fundamental Flaws

Dr Mary Phelan, Chair of the Association of Translators and Interpreters Ireland and a leading expert at Dublin City University, analysed 100 minutes of interpreted testimony from Sayeed's trial. Her 150-page report, compiled with European colleagues, revealed devastating incompetence.

"There were so many opportunities lost where the defendant could have had an opportunity to tell his side of the story, and he wasn't able to do that. The family was totally failed, really, by the poor interpreting in this trial," Dr Phelan stated.

The interpreter failed to perform basic preparation, including learning how to say "FGM" in French, and confused fundamental terms like body parts. This wasn't mere incompetence; it was a denial of basic human rights.

Ireland's Shameful Standards

While EU Directive 2010/64/EU guarantees the right to quality interpretation in criminal proceedings, Ireland has systematically failed to implement proper safeguards. Unlike other European nations, Ireland has:

• No state training for court interpreters
• No certification requirements
• No central register of qualified interpreters
• No examination system to test language competency

Associate Professor Niamh Howlin from UCD's Sutherland School of Law emphasised this shocking disparity: "In this country, we don't have those safeguards. There really is no way to ensure that high quality legal interpretation is being given."

Corporate Profits Over Justice

Translation.ie, the company that provided the faulty interpreter, continues to hold Courts Service contracts despite this scandal. Since 2020, the company has generated over €15 million in profits while families like Sayeed and Halawa's suffered devastating injustice.

The cost of translation services has more than doubled from €1.2 million in 2020 to €2.5 million by September 2024, yet quality standards remain non-existent.

Ongoing Injustice

After their release in November 2021, Sayeed and Halawa faced a second trial in 2023 with an inconclusive jury decision. In 2024, the Director for Public Prosecutions entered a nolle prosequi, ending prosecution without acquittal.

The couple's legal teams have applied for a certificate of miscarriage of justice, with hearings scheduled for January 2026. Meanwhile, they remain in legal limbo, their lives shattered by state incompetence.

A Call for Systemic Reform

The Association of Translation and Interpreting Associations has been raising these concerns for nearly 25 years, submitting reports in 2002, 2008, 2011, and 2020. Their warnings were ignored until this family's suffering finally exposed the system's failures.

Dr Phelan demands urgent action: "It seems to be everything is just continuing as before that judgement. So, I find that quite extraordinary that nobody's sitting up and saying, Oh, it's time to do something about this."

As Ireland's population diversifies, more families will depend on court interpreters. Without immediate reform, more innocent people will suffer the consequences of our state's negligence. Justice delayed is justice denied, and for too many, our courts have become instruments of injustice rather than protection.