Members of the public can avoid jury service by signing up for a nominal fee to be a 'minister' in an online church.

Emmett Vaughan (pictured), a self-styled minister with the 'Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster', has been excused jury duty in the Irish courts because of his beliefs.

The 44-year-old decided to join the US-based registered church, who are also known as Pastafarians, online.

Under current guidelines, a priest or minister of any denomination can be exempted from jury duty.

When he put his new-found pastoral role on the jury reply form, Mr Vaughan, an active member of Atheist Ireland, waited for the Court Service to seek verification of his position,

The scheduled jury date passed and no verification was ever sought.

He told the Irish Independent his actions expose the "inequality" which allows members of the clergy a privileged position when it comes to jury duty.

Irish Independent