asked the Minister for Justice if he will make arrangements whereby persons who are summoned as jurors at the Circuit Courts will be paid adequate travelling and subsistence allowances in respect of the time and expenses incurred when attending these courts, especially in view of the fact that most of the people summoned on such juries are small farmers who can ill afford to lose the time spent on jury service.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Allowances for Jurors.
Mr. Boland
The duty of citizens to serve on juries in criminal trials without reward or recoupment of expenses is a very old feature of our judicial system. It does, no doubt, involve occasional hardships to individuals, but I am not satisfied that these are so frequent or so serious as to call for the change suggested in the question. In the particular case of County Wexford, the minimum rateable qualification for jury service is £20 for a house or £40 for house and lands taken together, and each individual juror is called on for service only about once in every three years.
Does the Minister consider it good policy to have small farmers going to these courts and having to stop in hotels and lose their time when they could be cultivating the land? Under the old régime it was considered an honour to be a juryman, and it was well-off people who served on juries. The class of people to whom I refer cannot afford to lose time attending as jurors at the Circuit Courts in Wexford.
Is the Minister aware that some jurors in County Wexford have to spend three days away from home, although they may be only called to serve on a jury for one day? Is the Minister aware that some of these jurors reside such a long distance from Wexford that with the present travelling facilities it is impossible for them to attend court in time unless they spend a night away from home, and if they serve on a jury they cannot get home until the next day? That means staying out three days. I think the Minister's answer to my query on a former occasion was that jurors were summoned only from the vicinity of the town. I ask the Minister to make further inquiries, as I think he will find it to be the fact that a number of jurors have in fact been summoned to recent courts from considerable distances and that they were unable to get home until the next day.
It is due to the emergency situation and to the lack of transport that jurors have been kept longer than usual. Would the Minister consider the advisability of doing something to meet the position during the emergency?
Mr. Boland
I think something has been done during the emergency. In reference to Deputy O'Leary's question, I do not think that really small farmers are asked to serve. A valuation of £40 on house and land represents a reasonably sized farm. As to the point raised by Deputy Esmonde, steps have been taken since the emergency arose to limit the number of jurymen to seven, and there is power to restrict the area from which they are summoned. There is no reason why they should not be able to get home if a case is not finished in one day. In civil cases jurors are not now necessary in the Circuit Courts. That is during the emergency. I think the steps which have been taken should prove satisfactory. I do not think there is any necessity to make any change such as is suggested by the Deputy. I shall have inquiries made as to what happened in County Wexford. The authorities try to draw jurors from such a restricted area as will give the jurors a reasonable chance to get home the same evening.
It is not a question of the unwillingness of jurors to serve. The real grievance is that no arrangement is being made to put them up for the night when they have to wait over.