THE TRIALS OF three gardaí in Limerick city have been further delayed as a State prosecutor blamed a lack of resources and budget overruns.  

Carl Hanahoe, Senior Counsel, for the State told Judge Colin Daly at Limerick Circuit Criminal Court that the case was stalled because the prosecution team did not have the finances to facilitate the production of key documents needed for the defence. 

The issue is centred around the practice of discovery. This is where the prosecutors must furnish all documents to the defence before a trial commences. 

The three accused, Garda Peter O’Donnell, 52, Garda Paul Baynham, 37, and Garda Niall Deegan, 51, all serving in the Limerick Garda Division in Road Policing, have been charged with perverting the course of justice in connection with the alleged termination of road traffic offence tickets. They have all pleaded not guilty. 

The gardaí have been suspended since 2020 since the beginning of the probe by the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation (NBCI).  

This morning at least one of the trials was due to get underway in Limerick.  

When court began Hanahoe spoke briefly to the judge outlining that the State was seeking an adjournment. 

The State’s counsel apologised to the court for the delay in the prosecution and said that there were budget issues arising for his office and that of the NBCI. 

The Judge also spoke about a lack of resources for the next opportunity to hear the trial and had asked more more details so that he could seek the help of a second judge. 

The response from the defence counsel was instantaneous and both John Byrne SC for O’Donnell and Baynham and James Dwyer, counsel for Deegan immediately made applications for the cases to be strike out.   

Byrne said his clients were suspended in 2020, that they were served the book of evidence in October 2024. He said it was an “extraordinary” situation to be in.

Dwyer said that they had sought disclosure in 2024 when his client was returned for trial. He said that “nothing has been done since then”. 

Hanahoe said that the three trials would take three weeks each to compete and as Baynham’s disclosure was the closest to being complete that the State would be ready to go ahead with that case. 

The court heard that the Baynham disclosure was concluded but just not filed on his legal team. 

Byrne said that his clients had been suspended in 2020 and they are entitled to get their trial underway especially as one of the cases is ready to proceed. 

Dwyer told the court: “It was returned for trial in 2024 – they’ve done nothing since then”.

He explained that there a previous case in which the case could be struck out and then later re-entered by the Director of Public Prosecutions. 

The Judge said that he would grant the adjournment to 14 April for mention. He said that if the disclosure was not concluded “in a reasonable time” by then the defence counsel could make a new application to strike out. 

The judge said that he did not have the “capacity to facilitate” the trial in April and he would have to seek another judge to help.