Over 18,000 avoided jury duty without valid exemption in 2022

Ken Foxe

At least 18,000 people dodged jury duty last year without a valid excuse.

The county with the highest rate of no-show, among those which kept detailed data, was in Co Waterford, where four in every 10 jurors did not turn up after being called up to serve.

In Waterford, 14,800 people were summonsed to serve on a jury, of whom 5,950 did not attend and “were not excused”, while 3,924 were cleared of having to attend because they had a valid excuse.

The county with the most conscientious citizens was Limerick, where just 3 per cent of people asked to sit on a jury did not attend without giving a valid reason.

Other counties with high rates of attendance were Louth and Monaghan, where only around 12 per cent of people called up were listed as having failed to turn up for duty.

At least two-thirds of people in some areas were officially excused from jury duty, while the equivalent figures in some counties was as low as 24 or 26 per cent.

In Longford, the rate of legitimate excusal was 66 per cent, increasing to 68 per cent in Sligo and 71 per cent in Cavan.

Wide variations in how many people get excused in certain counties is generally down to socio-economic factors and also sometimes due the accuracy of the electoral roll.

In rural counties, people are more likely to have moved for jobs or university or emigrated, while a higher proportion of people are self-employed.

Those who are self-employed, including farmers and construction workers, can sometimes be excused from service because their business might not survive a lengthy trial.

Certain categories of people are excused from jury service “as of right”, including people already involved in justice administration, like judges, gardaí, soldiers, and prison officers.

TDs and Senators are also excused, as are many medical personnel, and others who can demonstrate that their work cannot be done by someone else.

Many convicted criminals are excluded by default, including people who have been convicted of serious offences or have been given a jail sentence of more than five years.

The Courts Service also said that in some county court offices, judges would be verbally told by a potential juror why they wished to be excused and that accurate records of this did not exist.

In the Dublin courts, 78,641 people were summonsed for jury duty last year, of whom 5,943 are listed as having attended.

The Courts Service said they had not kept records in Dublin for those who did not attend, those excused from serving, or others who were exempt from duty for other reasons.

They said there were 4,900 cancellations in Dublin, a large number of which related to Covid-19 restrictions, while 1,223 people were marked as “late excusals”.

An information note from the Courts Service said: “It is acknowledged that in many cases the statistical data from the electronic system and the manually recorded figures do not tally under the current process of data collection.

“Please also note that in many cases, the number of potential jurors had to be limited on empanelling day due to Covid restrictions on capacity limits and this may not be reflected in the numbers.”