The trial of Mr John Gilligan for the murder of the journalist Veronica Guerin four years ago, which was due to open today, may be delayed by an appeal to the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court was told yesterday that Mr Gilligan was appealing the High Court's rejection of his challenge to the validity of being tried before the non-jury Special Criminal Court.
The trial is listed to begin in the Special Criminal Court today. He is also facing charges related to drugs and firearms offences.
In the Supreme Court yesterday Mr Patrick Gageby SC, for Mr Gilligan, said that the papers in the appeal would be before the court in two or three days. He added that the matter might attract some urgency. It is expected that a date for the hearing of the appeal proceedings will be set later.
In the High Court last Friday Mr Gilligan sought leave to apply for a judicial review of the sections of the Offences Against the State Act which set up the three-judge Special Criminal Court.
Mr Gageby had submitted that the Act was an unwarranted interference with his client's right to a jury trial. He argued that there was no longer any reasonable or factual basis to support the continuation of the Special Criminal Court, the reasons supporting its existence being the nature and extent of the conflict in Northern Ireland.
Counsel also submitted that the procedure by the DPP for certification for trial before the nonjury court was unfair in that it was unreviewable and irrevocable, that it constituted an incursion into the presumptive right to a jury trial and permitted the DPP to select the forum of trial.
Mr Gilligan (48) was extradited to the Republic from Britain last February. He is charged with the murder of Ms Guerin at Naas Road, Clondalkin, Dublin, on June 26th, 1996. Last June he failed in a legal attempt to have the murder charge dealt with separately from the drugs and firearms charges.