The Republic of Ireland Courts Service has signed a contract with WordWave International, giving the world's largest court reporting company exclusive rights to provide transcription services, initially for one year.

It is the first time that the Irish Courts Service has outsourced court reporting to a single provider.

All of the Republic's criminal courts and selected civil courts were included in the same tender – which WordWave claims is another first.

WordWave will be delivering traditional stenography alongside its more sophisticated, part-automated services, as appropriate.

The service includes overnight transcription for trial proceedings in five courtrooms in Dublin, the Special Criminal Courts and four Central Criminal Courts, plus regular transcription for five Circuit Criminal Courts in Dublin and at twenty-seven venues in provincial locations.

Vicky Harris, business development director at WordWave, said her company would "… bring to bear our expertise gained from our work in other major courts around the world, including the Federal Magistrates Courts in Australia, the Supreme Court of Singapore and the Old Bailey and the Royal Courts of Justice in London."

Stuart Margetson, a partner at Dublin firm Matheson Ormsby Prentice, welcomed the deal between the Courts Service and WordWave, which he said "provided highly efficient and valuable court reporting services" while he was working on the recent, high-profile Athlone Extrusions case.