THE HIGH Court has reserved judgment on a landmark legal challenge by a deaf mother of two to her being excused from jury service apparently on grounds of her deafness.
Joan Clarke says she should not be deemed ineligible for jury service merely because she is deaf and that any such exclusion is discriminatory and in breach of various provisions of the Constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) Act 2003.
The real issue, under the Juries Act 1976, is whether she is “incapable” of serving and that issue should be decided judicially in open court and not decided administratively, she said.
Ms Clarke says she wants to perform “this important civic duty” on the same basis as everyone else and was frustrated at not being allowed to when summoned for jury service before Galway Circuit Court in April 2006, but was subsequently, against her wishes, excused from serving apparently on grounds of her deafness. She is entitled to be facilitated to serve on a jury by means of a sign language interpreter, she claims.
Ms Clarke, a homemaker, Ashlawn, Athenry Road, Loughrea, Co Galway, has been deaf since birth. Her husband is also deaf and they have two hearing children.
Represented by the Free Legal Advice Centres, she brought her action against the Galway County Registrar, the Courts Service and the State with the Human Rights Commission as a notice party.
The three-day hearing concluded this week before Mr Justice Daniel O’Keeffe who reserved his decision.
The proceedings were signed for Ms Clarke and other deaf persons in court by two sign language interpreters.
The State has denied the claims of unconstitutionality or breaches of the ECHR Act 2003. It argued that, under the Juries Act, Ms Clarke is ineligible for jury service due to the “permanent infirmity of deafness” and denies that Ms Clarke is entitled to have appropriate arrangements made to accommodate her deafness and enable her serve as a juror.