James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator. This is probably just a matter of good practice. The Senator gives an example of the practical impact of a witness travelling a long distance. It may also be the case that there is an expert witness on the State's side of a case, perhaps a forensics expert, where he or she has appeared as a witness in a preliminary trial, and where if the trial was some distance away in time, that witness may be gone. One is then looking at getting somebody else to read back into the evidence. Generally, it would be a matter of good practice.

My understanding also is that in dealing with anything to do with admissibility, which is similar to the point I have been just making, that where one has the preliminary trial, evidence is given, and perhaps experts are called, will all of those witnesses still be available for the actual trial itself? The longer that gap and distance is there, the greater the risk that a person may be out of employment, no longer available or, God forbid, may have passed away, as unfortunately sometimes happens in criminal trials. This then is just a matter of good practice as to admissibility of evidence and keeping things moving.