The Minister for Justice's own deadline for installing video recording machines in 200 Garda stations has passed, with just 11 stations fitted with the equipment.
The equipment, regarded by civil liberties campaigners and the Minister as crucial evidence of what is said by suspects in Garda interview rooms, was to have been installed in 200 stations within 18 months.
Announcing the scheme in early August 1999, Mr O'Donoghue said the video equipment would reduce the instances of "trials within trials" on disputes about suspects' statements, and would speed the criminal justice process.
Of the State's 700 Garda stations, the main district headquarters and larger stations, 200 in total, were earmarked.
Now, with the equipment in place in only 11 stations, the targeted number has been reduced to 150.
A spokesman for the Department of Justice said yesterday the scheme had been delayed by building work. "It's not just a question of buying the equipment and putting it in," he said. There were 220 interview rooms in 150 Garda stations which had to be refurbished and soundproofed in preparation. Installation of the equipment in the remaining stations will commence in April and the Department of Justice expects it to be completed by the end of the year.
The stations outfitted with soundproofing, video cameras and tape recording equipment are: the Bridewells in Cork and Dublin; Tallaght and Terenure, Dublin; Mill Street, Galway; Garda College, Templemore; Henry Street, Limerick; Drogheda; Sligo and Waterford.
The Irish Council for Civil Liberties was among the organisations that welcomed the scheme on its announcement in 1999, saying it was "long overdue". Yesterday its director, Mr Donncha O'Connell, said he was "quite appalled at the rate of implementation".
He said there had been "inexcusable foot-dragging on this issue, not just since it was announced but since it was first recommended - decades ago - by the O Briain and Martin committees.
"The reasons given for the delay in the implementation of the Minister's scheme are not convincing. By any standard this is a pathetic result and raises questions as to the seriousness with which the matter is being pursued."
The scheme announced in 1999 obliges gardai to video record their interviews with persons questioned about serious crimes that carry a sentence of five years or more.
The Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) had also welcomed the scheme in 1999 as offering "protection for the person who's conducting the interview as well as the person who's being interviewed".
An AGSI spokesperson said yesterday the association was "disappointed at the amount of progress on this issue, but is confident that the programme will be implemented without undue delay, bearing in mind the difficulties in the construction industry these days".
The Garda Representative Association had sought the measure as a protection to gardai who frequently had allegations levelled against them.