Special viewing room for Anglo Irish trial

A special viewing room is to be made available to the public to watch the upcoming trial of former senior staff at Anglo Irish Bank.

The Courts Service has confirmed that the level of public interest in the case is expected to be such that it will turn a vacant courtroom in the Criminal Courts of Justice into an overflow viewing room for the trial, which will take place in a courtroom upstairs.

On most days, members of the public will be able to watch proceedings by video link in Court One, which is usually used as a District Court.

Next month's trial of former Anglo Irish chairman Seán FitzPatrick and executives Pat Whelan and William McAteer is to be held before Judge Martin Nolan in the biggest courtroom in the Criminal Courts of Justice complex, Court 19.

While the public will be admitted to the main courtroom, a large portion of the available space will be taken up by assigned seating for the legal teams and the media.

The trial is expected to last up to six months which would make it the longest criminal trial in Irish history. It will contain vast amounts of evidence. Dublin Circuit Criminal Court has previously heard that the case involves 24 million documents, including about 800 witness statements.

The evidence will be organised during the trial using a computer system. Documents will be displayed on screens throughout the court while jurors will be given laptops so they can view the relevant documents electronically rather than hauling around dozens of bulky folders.

These methods were employed during the recent fraud trial of former solicitor Thomas Byrne and contributed to the smooth running of the case.

The authorities have also had to devise new ways of empanelling a jury.

An amendment last year to the 1976 Juries Act means that an enlarged jury of 15 people can now be empanelled for lengthy trials. Although only 12 jurors will retire to deliberate on a verdict, three substitutes will be present throughout the trial should a juror be unable to continue.

In advance of the trial, which is due to start on February 4th, 1,500 jury summons were sent out in the expectation that 500 people will show up. Over the course of a day, this number will be whittled down to the 15 jurors who will hear the case.

Mr FitzPatrick (64), Mr McAteer (62) and Mr Whelan (50) have been charged with 16 counts of providing unlawful financial assistance to individuals in July 2008 to buy shares in the bank. They are expected to enter not guilty pleas before the trial begins.