I beg to move as an amendment to delete Section 4. The Section reads:—
"In addition to the persons now disqualified for serving on juries, any person who is not registered as a Dáil or Local Government elector shall be absolutely disqualified from serving on any jury, inquest, or inquiry whatsoever, and the names of such persons shall not be inserted in any jurors books or jurors lists."
Apart from the very sweeping character of this Section which, by the way, shows that any person who is not registered as an elector shall be absolutely disqualified from serving on any jury, inquest, or inquiry whatsoever, I think the words of the Section hardly convey what the Minister meant or what he says it meant. But apart from that I submit it is very unwise to put this temptation in the way of citizens to get themselves written off the electors' list and thereby to get themselves written off the jurors' list. The Minister himself has said certain things appropriate to the situation when he referred to the unwillingness of electors to cast their votes. Fifty per cent. or more of the electors in one constituency quite recently thought so little of their votes that they refused to record them. Probably the same experience will be repeated to-day. Now if fifty per cent. of the electors are so careless about the rights of the franchise it is quite arguable that a very large proportion of these careless electors are also liable to jury service and if they can, by getting their names off the register of electors, also get their names off the jurors' list, as I said at an earlier stage, it is a very good bargain. Many people care nothing about the right to vote. They might fight for the right to vote but when they get it they do not care whether they are on the list, or not, and if they are on the list, they do not exercise their right to vote. Now we are asked to say that if a careless person disregards his right to vote and can find a way of getting his name struck off the electors' list he will, by that fact also, be cut off the jurors' list. I am surprised that the Minister should bring forward such a proposition. I would rather think the view of the Minister would be that if a person is not careful enough, or at least is not filled with sufficient sense of civic duty to exercise the vote, and to look after the securing of his vote, he would be punished by being compelled to serve on juries; but we are about here rewarding a man by eliminating him from the responsibility of serving on a jury if he also can find a way of getting his name off the electors' list. If this Section is allowed to remain it seems to me that the necessary corollary should be that there should be a penalty imposed upon the officials responsible for putting names upon the register of qualified persons. We have not imposed such a penalty. I think that Deputy McCarthy would be able to inform the Minister responsible that it is quite an easy thing to get one's name struck off the register and I am not prepared to agree that the mere failure to find the place upon the electors' register should not merely disqualify—because that is hardly the word to use in the circumstances—but excuse a person from serving as a juror. One is amused to read this word "disqualification" as though it were an honour to be sought, Perhaps it ought to be, but in fact it is not. People do not fall out with each other in order to be allowed to be put upon a jury. But we tell the country that it is a disqualification that we impose on them unless they get their names put upon the register. It is rather topsy-turvey, and I submit it ought not to be here in this Bill, and therefore I move the deletion of this Section.
