Judge apologises to Mayo jury panel for asking them to return next week
Judge Eoin Garavan asks jury panel to return next Monday with the hope the legal aid dispute will be resolved and trials can go ahead
A MAYO jury panel was asked by a judge to return next Monday with the hope that the legal aid dispute will be resolved and trials can go ahead.
Close to 100 people answered their jury summons to appear before Castlebar Circuit Criminal Court this morning only to be told there was no business for them and they were free to go home.
The call-over at the start of the court session heard there were 21 cases listed for trial but none of them could go ahead due to the continued legal aid dispute between solicitors and the Department of Justice.
The dispute has been on-going since the beginning of July after solicitors rejected a new criminal legal aid scheme introduced by the Minister for Justice on July 1. As a result, solicitors in Mayo and other counties withdrew their services in criminal cases which has resulted in the majority of criminal cases in both the district and circuit court being continuously adjourned.
Only one trial has gone ahead during this term of Castlebar Circuit Criminal Court which started on October 5 and is due to be completed on November 6.
A number of cases listed for this week were adjourned to next Monday, November 2 with the hope there will be a resolution to the dispute and business can go ahead before the end of the sitting.
Judge Eoin Garavan apologised to the jury panel but asked them to return next Monday with the hope a trial can go ahead.
“The position is because we don't have work this week for you, I am going to ask you to come in next Monday. It does not give me any pleasure to do that. Hopefully we will be in a position to pick juries on that occasion.
“I do apologise to you and I do appreciate you all have better places to be and have all sorts of obligations and work commitments," he said.
Judge Garavan told the jury that if there are no positive developments by the end of the week, they will be contacted not to attend next Monday.
“I am sorry to do it this way, I don't think we have ever done it this way and put in a jury panel during the last week [of the court sitting]. But because of the pressure on us we need and want to get work on as quickly as we can. If we can use the last week for that then we will use it,” he said.