asked the Minister for Justice the length of time the practice of investigation of potential jurors by the Garda, as outlined by him in response to earlier questions, has been going on; and whether the results of such investigations are communicated to the defence as well as to the prosecution.
Written Answers. - Selection of Jurors.
443.
The Garda are unable to say when the practice started but they are aware that it is in existence for over 40 years.
The second part of the question may be based on a misunderstanding. While the Garda make certain inquiries, as the rule rather than the exception, as previously stated, they do not make reports to the prosecution as a matter of course but only in exceptional circumstances. Although the Garda Siochána must, as a matter of principle, reserve the right to report anything that is known to them and that appears to them to call seriously in question the likelihood that a potential juror would be able and willing to be impartial—it being a matter for the prosecution, not the Garda, to decide whether it should then be made the basis of an objection or not—the position in practice, certainly in recent years, is that the Garda are concerned almost exclusively with criminal records.
Reports are not, therefore, made available to the defence, who have their own right to object but cannot interfere with the prosecution's right and therefore are not concerned with the prosecution's reasons for doing so. However if in a particular case the defence were to inform the prosecution that their client had a particular interest in excluding from the jury anybody with a criminal record, or with a criminal record of a particular kind, and if the prosecution were not dealing with the matter already, there are various ways depending on circumstances in which their wish could be given effect to. I am informed by the Director of Public Prosecutions that he has had this point under review and has decided that such a facility will in fact be made available to the defence from now on.
I should like to add that no suggestion has, to my knowledge, been made by either branch of the legal profession that the present arrangements operate unfairly.
444.
asked the Minister for Justice if he will outline in detail the methodology adopted by registrars in the selection of names to go on lists of jurors; and if he is satisfied that this process produces an accurate random sample of those entitled or obliged to serve as jurors.
Copies of the instructions issued to county registrars in February 1976 with regard to the practice and procedure to be adopted by them in the discharge of their duties under the Juries Act, 1976, as provided in section 27 of the Act, are now available in the Oireachtas Library. It has not, so far, been found necessary to revise those instructions.
I have no reason to believe that the procedure outlined therein does not produce a truly random sample of persons qualified and liable for jury service.