Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)

The purpose of the two Government amendments Nos. 20 and 23 is to remove the upper age limit for eligibility to be called and serve on a jury and, as a consequence, to remove the upper age limit for excusability as of right. Currently, section 6 of the 1976 Act provides that "every citizen aged 18 years or upwards and under the age of 70 years who is entered in a register of Dáil electors" is eligible for jury service; and Part II of Schedule 1 (Persons Excusable as of Right) provides that "persons aged 65 years or upwards and under the age of 70 years" may be excused from jury service.

This amendment, when proposed on Committee Stage in the Dáil, attracted cross-party support. That cross-party support is evidenced again in the Seanad today by the presence of amendment No. 21 in the name of the Labour Party Senators, as an alternative formulation to the Government amendment No. 20. There are technical reasons I prefer the approach in the Government amendment to that in amendment No. 21. We do not need to include the saver for "reasons of infirmity" because that is already amply covered elsewhere in the Juries Act. The Senators might consider withdrawing amendment No. 21 on that basis.

We are all agreed that this change is worthwhile to reflect the increasing role and contribution of older people in society and the fact that the mandatory retirement age has now been raised. The changing demography of our population shows an increasing age profile as more people continue to live longer and healthier lives. Keeping the right of excusal on age grounds will ensure any person over the age of 65 does not lose an existing right and can be excused from service as of right if they so wish. The approach is to make the possibility of jury service available to older people while at the same time ensuring the availability does not impose a burden in any individual case.

On amendment No. 22 in the name of the Labour Party Senators, I thank them for tabling it and am glad to tell them it has the support of the Government. The principle is accepted and I have the assurance of Parliamentary Counsel that it is acceptable from a technical point of view.

Part 1 of the First Schedule to the Juries Act 1976 refers to "a person who because of insufficient capacity to read, deafness or other permanent infirmity is unfit to serve on a jury". As this exclusion is currently the subject of court proceedings it is not appropriate for me to comment except to remind Senators that the law on juries has been included in the Law Reform Commission's recently published Third Programme of Law Reform 2008-2014. I will consider any proposed amendments the Law Reform Commission makes in regarding persons ineligible for jury service and any other matters arising from its detailed consideration of this area of law.