A CRIMINAL trial with 22 witnesses, including one from abroad, could not begin after the jury was sworn in at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court yesterday because there was no judge or court available.
Judge Cyril Kelly, who is presiding over the daily criminal list, apologised to everyone connected with the case for having to adjourn it but said he had no option because he was unavailable due to pressure of work.
Two other juries had already been sworn in for trials which the two other available judges would preside over. Both of these were scheduled to continue for some days.
Judge Kelly said he had to take this third trial himself but could not start it until he dealt with a list of some 16 matters. His list included 12 sentences and a scheduled two hours of legal argument concerning a case in which the defendant was seeking a trial in Irish.
The sentence matters involved hearing evidence in some cases, reading detailed reports from probation officers and perhaps psychiatric or psychological reports, as well as pleas on behalf of their clients from defence counsel.
"It seems strange to me that no extra judges have been appointed to deal with criminal work in this court, but these are matters outside my control," said Judge Kelly.
"I regret the inconvenience and discourtesy to witnesses and everyone associated with the case, but I have no choice," he added.
Judge Kelly earlier noted that, the 22 witnesses included one from abroad, eight from Kerry; and others from Waterford, Cork and Dublin. He told the jury members not to return to court until just before midday today.
Earlier this month, on the first day of the law term, Judge Kelly also complained that effectively no additional judges had been designated to Dublin Circuit Criminal Court. He said most of the recent new appointees had been designated to deal with family law or to the provinces.