Jurors serving at major trials said it was a nerve-wracking exercise, with parking a nightmare, and that better coffee should be served.
The Courts Service has been conducting research on the experiences of people who sit on juries to see what they can do to make the experience easier.
Feedback from individual jurors detailed a daunting experience with one saying there was a “melee” outside the main entrance to the courthouse the previous week.
They said it was not an “easy experience” with a “big responsibility” around making decisions that might send somebody to jail.
However, the juror – who was serving in Cork – praised court staff with a smooth assembly process and a “really professional and helpful” judge.
An email said: “The support from jury minders was excellent. [Redacted] was a brilliant jury minder. He was very helpful and the only thing I would say that could be improved was the food at lunch for picky eaters.”
Another described being “confused” when they arrived at court and how “information was given out, but you couldn’t ask questions.”
A summary of their feedback said: “The interviewee said that they overheard others on the panel make comments like they felt like they were the criminals.
“They thought that people were nervous, and nothing was done to help this.”
Another recounted feeling “very nervous” going through security but said once inside, everything was well explained.
They were not picked for the jury in the end but said they would “be happy to be called again” based on their experiences.
One juror described hearing “difficult evidence” and being surprised that a number of people on their panel were from the same area.
They said: “People wanted to know how long the trial would take, good to be upfront about that. I could see some people might have sleepless nights after a trial. It could be traumatic for some.”
Parking was a bugbear for some, who believed it was unfair to expect people to pay for that themselves.
A note of feedback said: “Getting to and from the court is an ordeal. No direct public transport, [and] the cost impacts participation. Lack of parking creates a lot of inconvenience and extra cost to jurors.”
The informal research looked at three stages of the jury experience, before the person came to court, during a trial, and afterwards.