Ahern rejects specialist juries proposal

JUSTICE Minister Dermot Ahern has poured cold water on a suggestion by the Director of Public Prosecutions that specialist juries with expert knowledge of the finance industry be used in white-collar crime trials.

Mr Ahern said while he welcomed DPP James Hamilton’s comments on the difficulties involved in holding such trials, he would be reluctant to tamper with the existing jury system.

“We had special juries but we abolished them in 1927. The whole concept of a jury is that it’s 12 men and women are picked at random,” he said. “Other than the type of issues, like terrorist crime and gangland activity, I would be reluctant to take juries out of the system. They are the cornerstone of democracy.”