THE GOVERNMENT has been urged to remove all discriminatory elements of the law governing who can serve on a jury after it announced that the upper age limit for jury service will be abolished.
Flac (Free Legal Advice Centres), which campaigns for equal access to the justice system, welcomed the move to repeal the ban on older jurors, but said discrimination still existed against people with certain disabilities.
The repeal was announced on Tuesday by Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern.
Solicitor Michael Farrell of Flac said he had been taking a case on behalf of a person over 70 in the High Court challenging the exclusion of older people from juries.
“However, those with reading difficulties, those suffering from blindness or deafness or other ‘permanent infirmity’ are still deemed ‘incapable’ and ‘unfit’ to serve on a jury,” Mr Farrell said.
He said Flac would take a case in the High Court at the end of this month challenging the ban on deaf people serving on juries.
The advocacy group for older people Age Action said the removal of the upper age limit for jury service was “an important decision for older people and a victory for common sense”.
The new provision will mean persons over 65 may continue to serve on juries but also that they may be excused if they so choose.
Age Action said there were currently 468,000 people in the Republic aged over 65 – 11 per cent of the population.