Fintan Warfield (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 61:

In page 72, to delete line 12 and substitute the following: “(b) a person who, arising from his or her ill health, is resident in a hospital or other similar health care facility or is otherwise (with permissible and practicable decision-making supports and reasonable accommodation consistent with the right to a trial in due course of law) unable to perform the duties of a juror.”.”.

Section 91(b) would introduce a discriminatory prohibition on certain persons with psychosocial or intellectual disabilities serving on juries. This is inconsistent with the principles of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, UNCRPD, which prohibits discrimination based on impairment. Section 13(1) of the UNCRPD expressly requires states to ensure the provision of procedural accommodations to facilitate the role of people with disabilities as participants in legal proceedings. During pre-legislative scrutiny of this legislation, the Joint Committee on Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth expressly recommended, "The Bill should adopt the UNCRPD understanding of disability, especially concerning eligibility for jury service". This was recommendation No. 8. It also recommended that the language used concerning eligibility for jury service should, "be inclusive of a broader range of disabled people and to avoid the use of impairment-based language...which is discriminatory and inconsistent with the 2015 Act".