Mr. Justice White met with representatives from the Bar Counsel, The Law Society and the Director of Public Prosecutions to inform them that in future, he will be listing all trials in the Central Criminal Court for Pre-Trial Hearing. These Pre-Trial Hearings will be listed 3 months in advance of the trial date. The date will be fixed at the time the trial date is fixed.

Addressing disclosure issues

There are approximately 150 cases dealt with by the Central Criminal Court every year and it has been an issue in relation to some of those trials that late Disclosure can affect the ability of a trial to commence on time. In particular the disclosure of material from third parties can cause difficulties. While this was originally related to reports from medical institutions and /or counselling/psychiatric or psychological evidence it is now extended to telephonic evidence and evidence that emanates from smart-phones and from social media companies some of which are based abroad and mutual assistance provisions are required. The difficulties around disclosure in these cases has a knock on effect on the proper management of the Central Criminal Court List and leads to cases being adjourned.

Other cases where issues have arisen and have affected the ability of trial to start on time are where there are issues in relation to fitness to plead, insanity cases and cases of capacity. Practitioners are asked to identify these issues at an early stage so that they can be addressed by the Court so that the process of preparing the necessary reports can be commenced at an early stage.

Procedure from April 2020

Mr. Justice White hopes that the new process will reduce the amount of applications for late adjournments and that all outstanding disclosure issues, whether it be delays in receiving material at the prosecution end and /or problems in obtaining reports on both the prosecution and defence side can be addressed at the Pre-Trial Hearings. Mr. Justice White is proposing that this process will begin in approximately 3 months to commence in April 2020.

In relation to trials that are due to commence in the years 2020 and 2021 they will automatically appear in the Court Six Central Criminal Court List three months prior to the trial date and listed as a Pre-Trial Hearing. This means that cases listed for trial in six months’ time will also be listed in three months’ time for a Pre-Trial Hearing. Practitioners are asked to check the Legal Diary and to note the position for any trials they have listed in the years 2020 and 2021.

There is no specific payment process for this Pre-Trial Hearing. However, if any matter in the Pre-Trial Hearing requires a detailed Hearing with submissions and presentations being made to the trial judge in relation to the case, applications can be made to have the Hearing treated as a trial date and the Court will use discretion in considering such applications. We stress that no payment has been organised for the Pre-Trial Listing and practitioners will be concerned that yet again, practitioners are being asked to make additional Court appearances at a time when there has been no restoration of legal aid fees. This is an issue that the Law Society is addressing on an ongoing basis with the Department of Justice.