Minister for Justice Michael McDowell today expressed concern that hundreds of drink-driving prosecutions could be struck out due to delays following legal challenges to an alcohol test.
Scores of alleged offenders have been waiting years for their cases to be heard as Supreme Court challenges were brought against the intoxilyser test.
In one of the first hearings since the system was deemed fair, a District Court judge in Cork threw out a four-year-old case after insisting the wait was unacceptable.
Mr McDowell said it was a matter for the courts to decide each case on its merits, but accepted there were fears it could lead to other prosecutions falling apart.
"It would concern me if a case was put back for a test case to be decided if other people who sought adjournments could avail of a delay," he said.
"Those decisions are all matters for the courts, and the judges in question, but I would say this, there is obviously a live issue where somebody secures an adjournment [and] can later say that the delay attended on that adjournment is something on which they can rely."
Judge Con O'Leary in Cork District Court yesterday sparked controversy when he said justice would not be served by allowing a prosecution to proceed after a four-year wait.
The judge said that memory was the key issue and questioned how gardaí could reasonably be expected to recall events from years before and the circumstances of individual arrests.
He added that it would be wrong for officers to rely solely on notes when giving evidence, and the judge warned that he may take the same course of action when similar cases come before him.
Although the case was not an absolute test, it is expected that lawyers around the country will have been watching the outcome closely and will attempt to defend their clients on the same basis.