Within three days of the start of the new law term, eight criminal trials in Dublin have had to be postponed due to lack of facilities.
"There are two trial courts available to the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court, the same as 30 years ago when there was 20 times less crime," Judge Kelly said yesterday when he had to fix new trial dates for three cases.
He apologised to the 300-strong jury panel for the situation and asked it to return to court tomorrow when it is hoped one of the two courtrooms will be free.
Originally, four trials were scheduled to begin yesterday, but the State entered a nolle prosequi in one. In one of the cases seeking trial a Dublin man denies possessing ammunition with intent to enable another person to endanger life. In another a man serving life for murder faces an assault charge.
Five cases had been scheduled for trial today, but cannot proceed in the absence of the jury panel.
The lack of courtrooms has been a recurring problem in Dublin Circuit Criminal Court which has resulted in the adjournment of the trial list on a number of days each year.
Despite the lack of facilities available to the court, the backlog of trials has been effectively eliminated in the past year. This has increased pressure on the two trial courts.
For a number of years, judges have been critical of the chronic overcrowding experienced in Court 24, the main court used by the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
To ease the cramped conditions a jury waiting room has been built underneath the court which is expected to come into operation before the end of the month.
Video and audio links between the court and the waiting room will be used to roll-call the jury panel and select jurors for trials. Jurors will no longer have to enter the court room until they are selected to serve on a jury.