asked the Minister for Justice if he will indicate, in the terms of his reply to Question No. 3 of 22 November 1978, the number of occasions during the past year on which the backgrounds of prospective jurors empanelled for the Central Criminal Court were investigated by the Garda at the request of the prosecution, in any case due to come for hearing.
Written Answers. - Central Criminal Court Jurors.
355.
The information sought in the question is not available in my Department or in Garda Headquarters. To seek to compile it would involve a considerable amount of research by the Garda at local level which, even if records were available in every case, could only be carried out at the expense of other more important work and I do not consider that I would be justified in asking the Garda authorities to undertake the task. Lest this should give the impression that a check is carried out only if there is some specific ground for believing that it should be carried out in the particular case, I should like to make it clear that the carrying out of a check is the rule rather than the exception.