A CENTURIES-OLD ban on the use of the Irish language in Northern Ireland courts is set to be repealed this week, paving the way for the language to be used in legal proceeding for the first time.

According to the Northern Ireland Office, Secretary of State Hilary Benn will bring forward legislation this week to “repeal the Administration of Justice (Language) Act (Ireland) 1737”, a penal-law era piece of legislation that bans the use of Irish in courts.

The historic law mandated that all British court proceedings “shall be in the English tongue and language, and not any other tongue or language whatsoever”.

Whilst a new Identity and Language Act was passed in December 2022, the clause triggering the repeal of the 1737 legislation has been awaiting approval by the Secretary of State.

Irish language group Conradh na Gaeilge welcomed the move, with President Ciarán Mac Giolla Bhéin describing it as “an incredibly historic moment for the Irish language community here in the north”.

“It’s a major victory against centuries of exclusion and discrimination that is testament to the power and resolve of our community,” Mac Giolla Bhéin said.

The same legislation was repealed here in Ireland in 1962, and similar legislation was repealed in Wales, Scotland and England in 1863.

“Irish speakers here in the north were, as always, left behind, as an ongoing legacy of colonial policy designed to eradicate the Irish language from all vestiges of public life,” Mac Giolla Bhéin said.

Lá stairiúil & clochmhíle ollmhór san aistear i dtreo chearta teanga cuimsitheacha ó thuaidh. Freagracht anois ar @niexecutive & @naomi_long treoirlínte láidre a thacaíonn le húsáid na Gaeilge sna cúirteanna a chur ar fáil. @KRWLaw @ptierney89

pic.twitter.com/6kKd0DXGBP

— Conradh na Gaeilge ⭕️ (@CnaG) February 25, 2025

The Conradh na Gaeilge President called for equal status in “all of our public and shared spaces”.

“That is what equality looks like. Now that this penal-era ban has finally been repealed, it is up to the Executive to ensure the provision underpinning Irish speaking rights in our legal arenas are based on best-practice and equality.”

Benn said that “the implementation of the Act, including these provisions, is a matter for the Executive.”

It will, therefore, fall to the Justice Minister, Alliance Party MP Naomi Long, to bring forward the guidelines setting out the use of Irish in legal, court and tribunal settings following the removal of the ban.

Niall Murphy, partner at Belfast firm KRW Law, said the move was a “major milestone” for Irish speakers in the North.

“It is now imperative that the Justice Minister brings forward robust guidelines that recognises the ever-growing community of Irish speakers across our society and facilitates their inclusion in our legal services and spaces,” Murphy said.

“This watershed moment in the Irish language movement must have a real-life and practical impact on all of those people who chose to live their lives through the Irish language, ending centuries of marginalisation and exclusion from public life.”