Paul Ward, who is serving a sentence for his part in a prison riot, is seeking in Dublin District Court to have his driving licence restored.
Ward, whose conviction for murdering journalist Veronica Guerin was overturned three years ago, is asking that a 10-year driving ban be lifted more than a year before it expires.
In Rathfarnham District Court, in February 1997, he was disqualified from driving for 10 years for driving without insurance and while already disqualified.
That same year, he was involved in a riot in Mountjoy Prison where he and other inmates took prison officers hostage during an attempted rooftop protest. Ward (41), Windmill Park, Crumlin, Dublin, carried a blood-filled syringe during the riot and threatened to hang prison officers unless he was given chocolate.
In 1999, he was sentenced to 12 years in prison, but this was reduced by the Court of Criminal Appeal to 10 years and backdated to 1997.
The riot occurred when Ward was on remand charged with the murder of Veronica Guerin.
In 1998, he was convicted of that murder, but in 2002, this was overturned by the Court of Criminal Appeal which found there was no evidence to support a finding of the Special Criminal Court that he participated in the crime.
With remission, he was due for release earlier this year. However, not long before he was to be released, he was questioned in jail by gardaí about an alleged threat to kill a prison officer in Portlaoise Prison.
In Dublin District Court yesterday, his lawyer applied to have an application to restore his driving licence adjourned.
It is normal for people to apply to have their licences restored in advance of their bans expiring and most are granted unless the Garda objects. Ward was not in court.
Judge Aeneas McCarthy adjourned the application for a week.