Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I have been asked to raise this matter by a prosecuting counsel who works for the State in criminal cases. It relates to jury service and the difficulties in some areas where the required number of jurors is not available. What has caused concern are two recent cases which took a great deal of time to run; the Ian Bailey and Graham Dwyer cases. In one case, the jurors sat for more than 60 full days.

Someone from as far away as Castletownbere could be summoned to serve on a jury in Cork city but while the Courts Service ensures that those who serve on juries receive meals while they are hearing a case, there is no provision for simple things like travel expenses, car parking or overnight accommodation. We need to look at that. Another area in which there is no provision relates to the self-employed. While employers are obliged to pay an employee who is called to serve on a jury, there is no provision for the self-employed. How can they run their businesses if they are required to spend two weeks in court in the absence of any provision? It is something we need to look at when cases are getting more complicated. As we saw recently, they run for longer now. We must provide for some out-of-pocket expenses for those who make themselves available to serve on juries when called. It is a matter than needs to be reviewed.