asked the Minister for Local Government and Public Health whether an Order in Council dated 4th June, 1877, was issued under the Juries Procedure (Ireland) Act, 1876, fixing the fees to be paid for the preparation of the Jurors Lists at £10 for the first 100 names, and 9d. per name thereafter; whether at that time the names to be returned were mainly limited to occupiers rated at £40, and £10 freeholders; whether the numbers returned on the lists have been enormously increased owing to the insertion thereon of tenant purchasers under the Land Purchase Acts whose valuations are as low as £10 a year; whether the maximum remuneration in the Order was fixed at £125 a year for the Clerk of a Union; whether this limit was enforced when the work was transferred to the Secretaries of County Councils, and if the Executive Council will consider the advisability of issuing a new Order reducing the fees, as the names of the jurors are now shown on the Voters Lists.
WRITTEN ANSWERS. - FEES FOR PREPARING JURORS LISTS.
The Orders fixing fees for the preparation of Jurors Lists are dated 26th November, 1919, and 5th November, 1920; the amounts being as stated in the Deputy's question. The qualification for jurors is statutory, and I have no information as to the increase in the number of jurors by reason of the inclusion of persons of a particular valuation.
With regard to the limitation of remuneration, I would refer the Deputy to the terms of the Order of 5th November, 1920, which suspended the operation of clause 2 of the Order of 26th November, 1919. County secretaries are remunerated in accordance with clause 3 of the Order of 26th November, 1919. The question of fees for jurors work has already been considered by the Oireachtas and appears in Section 8 (2) of the Juries (Amendment) Act, 1924.