Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

This amendment proposes further amendments to the Juries Act 1976. The policy and legislative responsibility for that Act rests with the Minister for Justice and the relevant sections of the amendment Bill have been brought forward jointly by myself and the Minister for Justice. Section 91 of the Bill was introduced to remove the prohibition on persons serving on a jury who, in the problematic wording of the original section, and again I am using the original wording, has or had "a mental illness or mental disability" and are receiving medical treatment or are "resident in a hospital or other similar institution".

The intention of the Bill is that capacity to sit on a jury would be assessed on a functional capacity basis. All persons should be eligible for jury service where the court is satisfied they have the capacity to fulfil the duties of a juror. This supports the use of a functional capacity test to allow the court to assess eligibility at the time of service. For that reason, I am not in a position to accept the amendment today.

I should add that my colleague, the Minister for Justice, intends to establish a working group to examine possible reforms to the Juries Act 1976 in the months to come. This review will be wide-ranging and I will ask the Minister to ensure it will review the whole area of capacity to act as a juror, considering the provisions of the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act 2015.