PEOPLE WHO fail to show up for jury duty without a valid excuse will now face a €500 fine – a 10-fold increase on the previous penalty.
The increased fine came into force on January 1st, together with the removal of the upper age-limit of 70 years for jury members.
The previous €50 penalty for failing to comply with a jury summons has been in place since the Juries Act came into force in 1976.
Now a person can be fined up to €500 for this offence.
People can also be fined €500 for failing to attend court as a juror on subsequent days, or for showing up in court unfit for service due to drink or drugs consumption.
The changes are contained in the Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2008. As agreed by the Government last May, the upper age-limit for jury service has been abolished.
This follows claims of discrimination by groups such as Age Action Ireland.
The change means that persons over 70 years are no longer ineligible to sit on a jury, but any person over 65 who is called for jury service will be able to excuse themselves if they wish.
Before the measure was introduced, Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern stressed that it was not the intention to pressurise older people into serving on a jury.
Gerard Scully of Age Action Ireland welcomed the introduction of the new measure and said it was “appalling” that people had been prevented from exercising their rights as citizens.
He said it was important that over 70-year-olds had the option to sit on a jury, whether they wished to avail of it or not.
The increased penalty for failing to comply with a jury summons is hoped to reduce the number of people who opt out of the process.
Figures released under the Freedom of Information Act last year showed that more than half of those who received a summons for jury service in Dublin in 2007 did not serve.
Of the 22,000 who were excused from service, 15,844 were excused because of their job, their age, or on health grounds. The remaining 7,000 were excused at the discretion of the county registrar.
A long list of people are ineligible to sit on a jury, including the President of Ireland, coroners, gardaí and prison officers.
