A Garda sergeant charged with unlawfully disclosing information to a journalist was yesterday sent forward for trial before the Dublin Circuit Court.
A short hearing before Judge Leo Malone at the Dublin District Court yesterday heard that the State consented to the move.
Judge Malone remanded Det Sgt Robert McNulty of Rathfarnham on continuing bail of €100. No date was set for his trial during yesterday's hearing, which also heard that Mr McNulty did not intend to apply for legal aid.
Mr McNulty was charged last month in relation to the disclosure of the contents of a draft report of the Commission of Investigation into the Dean Lyons affair. Mr Lyons, who has since died, was wrongfully charged with double murder.
The report was compiled after an inquiry chaired by George Birmingham SC.
An article in the Evening Herald newspaper in August 2006 revealed the findings of Mr Birmingham's draft report, the final version of which was due for publication a month later.
The journalist who wrote the story, Mick McCaffrey, now of the Sunday Tribune, will not face charges. If convicted, Sgt McNulty faces a term of imprisonment of up to five years and/or a €300,000 fine.
The Dean Lyons case relates to the double murder of psychiatric patients Sylvia Shiels and Mary Callinan in March 1997. They were stabbed to death in their beds in sheltered accommodation at Grangegorman.
Mr Lyons was arrested and questioned about the killings. He was later wrongfully charged after making a "confession" to gardaí. Mr McNulty was involved in the investigation of Mr Lyons.