The Association of CSPE Teachers (ACT)

Supporting Citizenship Education in Ireland

Larkin Community College's visit to the High Court as part of Citizenship Education

by Maire O'Higgins

Larkin Community College is a second level ETB DEIS school in Dublin's inner city. My brother, who is a Senior Counsel, invited a class of third year students from Larkin to experience a Mock trial in the Four Courts. This privilege is usually granted to Transition year students in the Criminal Courts. What was so lovely about this particular offer was the fact that our students could experience the majestic building of the Four Courts as well as be part of a Trial.

Creating access for our young people to cultural and civic institutions breaks down barriers and demystifies our institutions. This is how we can then persuade our young people to care about their judiciary, the democratic systems in our country and the laws of the land. And this is what happened as a result of the generous offer of my brother. This generosity extended to several busy barristers and clerks who gave of their time to reach out to young people and be their teachers.

Micheál O'Higgins was sent a formal invitation by students to come to the school and share his insights on the life and times of a barrister and to explain what a Mock trial was. He wrote to say he would visit the school and he sent a copy of the Book of Evidence for students to prepare before the Trial.

When Micheál came to Larkin Community College he spoke about his work and the role played by barristers in serving people. He then went on to explain what a Book of Evidence was.

To prepare for our visit to the Four Courts, students took on the different roles of the characters in the Trial based on the Book of Evidence. They also researched Bunreacht na hEireann and the roles of those in our society that uphold the Laws of the Land. The research was exciting and important because our students were the ones being put on trial.

On the day of the Mock Trial students and staff took the Luas from Abbey Street to 'Na Ceithre Cúirteanna'. We got off the Luas and walked back on ourselves onto the river Liffey at the quays and up as far as the entrance to James Gandon's iconic landmark for Dublin, the Four Courts. We walked through scanners, into the Four Courts building, down the long corridor of the Courts and stood in the majestic Round Hall. We walked into the middle of the Hall and gazed up at the interior of the great Dome. It was like being in a Church. The atmosphere was almost spiritual.

We felt conspicuous standing in the middle of the Round Hall so we moved reverently, like churchgoers, to the rounded walls behind the Corinthian Columns of the Round Hall. We waited to be called into Court Room 4. It was late afternoon and the day was drawing to a close. There was a hushed atmosphere in the Round Hall. Nobody spoke over a whisper. It felt like serious work was going on behind heavy wooden doors leading off the Round Hall. But you couldn't hear a sound. Suddenly and quietly the wooden doors swept open in unison, as though on cue from an invisible conductor. People poured out of rooms behind the doors. They spoke in hushed tones. In seconds the Round Hall filled with serious bodies. The atmosphere remained sombre albeit nuanced with a heightened tension. Our collective eyes drank in the drama of the action from where we stood behind the Corinthian Columns. Everything was happening and nothing was going on. We all just stared, as politely as we could, like intruders at a wake.

The day was over for the lawyers but the team assembled by my brother for the students of Larkin stayed on to fulfill one more duty.

We were solemnly called into Court Room 4. Students were instructed to sit in various places; the jury to the right, the witnesses and the defendant to the left; observers to the centre back and the recording secretary to the top of the Court Room, to sit under the Judge. I watched as students were settled into their seats. For all of us taking part there was a sense that we were now in the hands of the Law. This was the moment that we truly could empathise with someone who entered the Court system. The system was now at work.

I wanted to prepare students further for what was about to happen but it was as if Mass had begun and only those who were entitled to do so could speak.

It was an intimidating feeling being now a part of a Trial where I as a teacher had no jurisdiction. Barristers and the judiciary stepped in to the role of teachers.

There were four barristers who took up opposing places and positions. We were asked to "All rise" for the Judge. Someone giggled. Nervously. The Judge came to the bench. He sat and turned to a student sitting beside a microphone in the jury box. He asked the student his name and then asked if he would accept the responsibility of being appointed the jury foreman. The student agreed to this.

The witnesses were sworn in and the Trial began.

The case was about a girl who had allegedly stolen a box of chocolates. The witnesses were questioned and cross examined. Some students were terrified. Others enjoyed the excitement of the experience. The Junior and Senior Counsels along with the Judge took the whole matter very seriously. The legal teams spoke English as though it were poetry. The language they used was musical and evocative. We all drank it in.

After the questioning, the prosecution and defence summed up for the jury. The jury listened with rapture. They enjoyed the summing up though they seemed reluctant to express their pleasure for fear of missing a vital piece of information.

The Judge then asked the jury to reach a verdict, a unanimous verdict.

The jury foreman said that the defendant was guilty, implying that the verdict had been unanimous. The Judge took the jury foreman's word for it and sentenced the defendant accordingly. The defendant tried to defend herself. The Judge was having none of it as was the protocol of the Trial. As a teacher I noticed that some of the jurors were conferring and seemed aggrieved. The Judge left the Chambers. The Trial was over.

After the Judge left one of the jurors asked if the jury foreman had the right to declare a unanimous verdict when they had not agreed to one. The barrister he asked said that this fact should lead to a mistrial. I suggested to the shy students who hadn't spoken up during the Trial that the lesson they may learn from the experience was to speak up when an injustice was being done. They agreed.

We made our way back to school feeling enlightened and important.

The experience gifted to us in Larkin Community College was a profoundly transformative one and one that sums up how education should be. Students partnered with professionals who treated them with respect and modelled professional life as it is. Students developed a deeper understanding and respect for their legal system. Three of the students are now keen to pursue a career in law. Another who has been in contact with the law for the wrong reasons has received a sobering lesson in how things might go. Our students experienced among other things, the skill of empathy as a lifelong educational outcome of their visit to the High Court. They stood in the shoes of the defendant, the protectors of the law and the legislators. As a teacher I too have learnt more about how our legal system works.

On behalf of students and staff in Larkin Community College, thank you to Mr. Justice Donal O'Donnell, Michael O'Higgins SC, Barry Ward BL, Dean Kelly BL, Alice Harrison BL, Sarah Moorehead SC, as well as Jeanne McDonagh, PRO for the Bar Council, who helped organise the mock trial with my brother Micheál P. O'Higgins SC.

December 2014