Citizens’ jury brings in its verdict: incineration is not the solution

LAST weekend a novel experiment in direct democracy took place in a Dublin hotel.

Professor Michael Laver and a number of colleagues in Trinity College's political science department gathered 56 Dubliners to make up a citizens' jury. The citizens' jury concept is new to Ireland but is a fairly regular occurrence in a number of European countries. It involves gathering together a representative but randomly selected group of voters, putting a particular topic to them and asking them after deliberation to come up with a consensus verdict on the issue.

These 56 jurors were selected by the ESRI and weighted to reflect the make-up of the electorate in the greater Dublin area. They assembled for most of Sunday to hear presentations from various experts for and against incineration.