Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Thursday, 12 November 2015
Public Accounts Committee
2014 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Vote 3: Office of the Attorney General
Vote 5: Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions
Vote 6: Office of the Chief State Solicitor
10:00 am
Mr. Barry Donoghue:
Certain issues may be managed with respect to the early resolution of matters. That is done quite well currently in the Circuit Criminal Court and other courts. In terms of admissibility of evidence, the courts refer to this as the unitary nature of the trial. In other words, the jury must be empanelled with the judge sitting there while issues of admissibility are addressed by the court. That is being addressed by the procedure Bill, and in the absence of the legislation, there is a limit on what one can do.