PENDINGÂ trials of three gardai in the Limerick Division have been delayed due to a drain on resources and budgetary overruns, a court heard today.
Prosecuting barrister, senior counsel Carl Hanahoe apologised to Limerick Circuit Criminal Court for the delay in trials against Garda Niall Deegan, (51), Garda Peter O’Donnell, (52), and Garda Paul Baynham, (37), all members of the Road Policing Unit, Henry Street, Limerick Garda Division.
Mr Hanahoe said the prosecution was “not in a position to proceed” with the trials and cited “budgetary overruns”, as well as the number of potential witnesses being sought, and the size of the investigating unit – the Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation (GNBCI) – as reasons for the delay.
Limerick Circuit Criminal Court judge, Colin Daly, put it to Mr Hanahoe that the three accused were listed for trial in his court today.
Mr Hanahoe replied: “I have to apologise for that.”
Mr Hanahoe said the State would be pursuing three separate trials against the accused gardai.
The three accused face a total of thirty-three charges between them, that, while being a serving member of An Garda Siochana, they each allegedly did communicate with other gardai in a manner which had a tendency or was intended to pervert the course of justice, on dates between 2017 and 2019
Senior Counsel, John Byrne, for Garda Baynham and Garda O’Donnell, as well as Senior Counsel, James B Dwyer, for Garda Deegan, made applications before Judge Daly to have the cases struck out.
Mr Byrnes and Mr Dwyer told the court that their clients had been under investigation since 2019, were still on suspension since 2020, and were still awaiting disclosure from the prosecution.
Mr Byrne described the situation as “highly unsatisfactory”.
Mr Dwyer, in seeking a strike out of the charges against Gda Deegan, cited a criminal case, which he argued was struck out because the prosecuting garda had not been present in court.
Mr Dwyer said his side had requested disclosure from the prosecution in 2024, and had received “partial” disclosure in 2025, but had heard “nothing” since then “despite repeated requests” for full disclosure.
In seeking to have the case against Gda Deegan struck out, Mr Dwyer suggested that if the office of the DPP so desired, it could “re-enter” the prosecution at a later date, but he said that, to “drag” the accused before the court was “a waste” of the courts time and the accused’s time.
Mr Hanahoe told the court the prosecution was seeking an adjournment in the cases, each of which he said would take at least three weeks to hear.
Mr Hanahoe acknowledged that while disclosure may have been “prepared” in the case against Gda Baynham, it had “not been served” yet, and he said disclosure was “not ready” in the cases against Gda Deegan and Gda O’Donnell.
Judge Daly said he would “consider” striking out the cases against all three accused if the State did not complete requests for disclosure “within a reasonable time”.
The judge said he did not have resources to deal with all three trials together in April, and he was “minded to seek a second judge” to hear the cases “back to back”.
The judge said he would consider fresh applications to have the matters struck out in Easter.
The cases were adjourned to April 14 for mention. All three accused gardai were remanded on continuing bail.
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