A District Court Judge in Letterkenny, Co Donegal has adjourned approximately 45 cases of alleged drink-driving, pending the outcome of a Supreme Court challenge to the law.
The challenge was taken by Mihai Avadanei, who claims that the print-out from the intoxiliser machine used in the case of his prosecution for drink-driving in Dublin in 2014 should have been in both English and Irish.
Last week, a judge in Dungarvan, Co Waterford struck out up to 30 drink-driving cases.
Judge Terence Finn said a considerable amount of time had passed since the legal matter was before the courts and it would be unsafe to now hear the cases.
At Letterkenny District Court, solicitor Ciaran MacLochlainn asked Judge Paul Kelly to strike out a drink-driving case against one of his clients on the basis of the delay on the part of the Supreme Court in making its judgment.
Inspector Michael Harrison said it was a matter of public interest that the Supreme Court judgment was awaited, but he said that no date has yet been set for it.
Judge Kelly said that the way this court has been dealing with these cases has been to adjourn them for mention.
These adjournments have been facilitated at various stages for both sides by the court, he said, and it would be unfair to simply strike them out.
Judge Kelly adjourned all of the drink-driving cases to 21 December.
