THE COURTS Service has issued an apology after a jury was discharged in a trial at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court partly because a wheelchair-using juror was unable to gain access to jury boxes in the Four Courts building.
The trial, in which a new jury had to be empanelled, was delayed for several hours as court personnel and gardaí attempted to find a way for the man to negotiate several steps up to the jury box.
Judge Frank O’Donnell discharged the jury on Wednesday afternoon following an application on several grounds from defence counsel, Fergal Kavanagh SC, which included the unsuitability of the courtroom for the juror.
Mr Kavanagh told the judge “the situation was wholly unsatisfactory and I don’t know who can be blamed”. Prosecuting counsel Una Ní Raifeartaigh had earlier expressed concerns that the “dignity” of the juror should be preserved and that the man should not be made to feel different.
A statement by the Courts Service yesterday said after being made aware of the issue “the Courts Service unreservedly apologises. This should not have happened.” Due to the number of trials and “the randomness of the jury selection process, it is impossible to know when and to which case a juror may be assigned”. Second, despite the Four Courts complex having “many wheelchair ramps, chair lifts and full-service elevators”, there was a “paucity of accessible jury rooms/boxes in this 210-year-old building”.
The statement said that where the Courts Service was made aware of the “needs of a wheelchair-user in advance, we make special arrangements for temporary solutions in the remaining non-universally accessible venues”. It said the new 22-courtroom criminal courts complex under construction will have “universal access”.
It is due to open on Infirmary Road next year and will host all of Dublin’s criminal trials. The Four Courts complex will continue to be used for Supreme Court and High Court civil law cases.