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A criminal trial will take place next year at Dublin’s Croke Park stadium to comply with Covid-19 social distancing regulations.
It has been decided that trials with a large number of defendants cannot take place in the Criminal Justice Courts (CCJ), as the number of people required in the courtroom would exceed HSE guidelines.
The Courts Service is examining multiple alternative venues for these cases and Croke Park, the GAA headquarters and Ireland’s largest stadium, has been contacted about the use of their conference facilities.
The service has not yet signed a formal contract with the venue, but the first trial to take place at the stadium was set on Friday by Judge Patricia Ryan.
On January 25, eight men will go to trial at the stadium. They face 16 counts of assault and violent disorder related to an alleged incident on February 7, 2015 in Hartstown, Dublin 15.
It is estimated that between attorneys, defendants, juries and court staff, the courtroom will have to accommodate up to 50 people at the same time.
“There is simply no way the CCJ can handle that number safely,” said a legal source.
It is understood that the test will take place in one of the stadium’s conference facilities.
“We are already having a lot of fun with it, telling the Mayo guys that this is the only time they will see Croke Park next year,” a criminal defense attorney said Friday.
Croke Park has conference facilities that, during normal hours, can accommodate up to 750 people. Parts of the stadium are already being used by the state as testing facilities for Covid-19. It is not yet clear whether the contract will be trial-by-trial or a longer-term deal will be concluded.
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The existing Courts Service facilities have thus far been able to host jury trials since they resumed in July, having been suspended in March after Covid-19 began to spread in Ireland.
However, it has had to rent additional venues outside of Dublin to allow for the selection of panel juries, which can be up to 300 people. These venues have included conference facilities and, in one case, a leisure center.
Courts have at times struggled to maintain social distancing at their headquarters, especially near the start of the pandemic. At times, a limit on the number allowed in court has caused large groups of people to crowd outside courtrooms waiting for their cases to be called. Since then, the situation has improved considerably with better scheduling of cases.
In criminal trials, jurors now do not sit in the jury box, but instead spread out around the courtroom, further limiting the number of people they are allowed to attend. This week, Chief Justice Frank Clarke and the presidents of the other divisions of the court issued a statement “strongly recommending” the use of masks in court.
“The proper and effective use of available microphones should overcome any difficulties for those who come to court to be heard,” the statement said.
However, unlike other public buildings, masks are not mandatory and witnesses may ignore the recommendation if a judge rules that wearing a mask would be harmful. Some attorneys have privately worried that juries will find it more difficult to evaluate evidence from a witness wearing a mask.
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