The annual cost of providing interpreters for court cases has dropped 57 per cent since the start of 2008.
The Courts Interpreters Service provides translators to non-fluent speakers who are involved in legal proceedings conducted in Irish or English.
In 2012 the annual cost of providing these translators was €1.56 million, down from €3.6 million five years earlier.
According to the Courts Service the fall in costs is due to a drop in demand for interpretation services coupled with savings achieved through contract negotiations with companies providing the service.
“Costs for the past number of years reflect the increases and decreases of the need for interpretation and the achievement of value for money,” a spokesperson from the Courts Service said.
Polish was the most frequently translated language between 2008 and 2012 followed by Lithuanian and Romanian respectively.
The Courts Service said approximately 25 per cent of all interpretation services were for Polish while Lithuanian and Romanian account for between 15 and 20 per cent.
Russian and Mandarin were the fourth and fifth most frequently used languages.
In spite of the year on year drop in costs a spokesperson for the Courts Service said that there has been a “very high satisfaction level with the quality of services”.
“The vast majority of occasions in which an interpreter is used pose no issue or problems,” he said. “Where an issue of a lack of clarity or understanding arises, the dynamic of the court setting makes this apparent”.
“On these rare occasions the interpreter can be replaced”.
Over the past 16 years the service has been provided in up to 210 different languages and dialects.
Three companies provide the majority of interpretation services; translations.ie, Context and Lionsbridge.