High Court rules State has constitutional 'duty' to make 'reasonable efforts' to use bilingual judges for some cases

The High Court has ruled the State has a constitutional duty to make "reasonable efforts" to assign a bilingual judge in a District Court criminal trial as requested by a man who wants to conduct his side of the case in Irish.

That duty arises under Article 8 of the Constitution, which states: "The Irish language as the national language is the first official language", Ms Justice Una Ní Raifeartaigh held.