The European Court of Human Rights, in its ruling on December 15th last in favour of Dr James Barry, found that there were several periods of excessive delay in his prosecution by the State which were partially or completely attributable to the Irish authorities.
The first delay was from November 1997 to February 2000, when Dr Barry initiated judicial proceedings in the High Court to stop his prosecution and there were disputes over the discovery of documents, with both sides contributing to the delay. The second period was between February 2000, when the date was originally fixed for the judicial review hearing in the High Court, and January 2002, when the hearing was finally completed.
Some of this delay was explained by the wait for the judgment in a related case delivered in May 2001, but the European court noted that the Irish authorities had failed "to list the case promptly after May 2001".
The third period of delay was between January 2002 and March 2003, which was the period between the High Court reserving and delivering judgment. "This period was clearly unreasonably long . . . and it was a delay solely attributable to the authorities," the court ruled.
The European court said there was no justification for the delay between December 2003, when the Supreme Court dismissed Dr Barry's appeal of the High Court's refusal to prohibit his prosecution, and December 2004, when the State reopened the prosecution case.
Dr Barry was awarded €15,000 in damages and costs by the European court.
