Convicted drug dealer John Gilligan has been granted a one-day adjournment in his High Court challenge to a District Court trial for alleged possession of a mobile phone while in prison.
At the High Court this morning lawyers for Mr Gilligan had sought a three-week adjournment of the case, saying they were not ready to proceed.
However Mr Justice Sean Ryan said he was conscious of the urgency of the matter, which arose from a current criminal trial.
He said the case had been specially fixed to take place during the vacation sittings and should proceed tomorrow.
Gilligan, who is serving a lengthy prison sentence in Portlaoise, is accused of having a mobile phone in his prison cell.
His challenge to the District Court proceedings are based on the ‘double jeopardy’ principle as he claims that the removal of prison privileges would amount to him being punished twice for an offence if found guilty by the District Court.
His lawyers said they had less than a week's notice of today's High Court challenge.
But lawyers for the Director of Public Prosecutions said the matter dated back at least two months and correspondence had been exchanged with a firm of solicitors.
Senior Counsel Paul Anthony McDermott for the State said it was Gilligan's case as he had raised the points at issue in the District Court.
He objected to any adjournment.
