The man convicted of murdering school teacher Aisling Murphy has been granted legal aid to appeal his conviction.
Jozef Puska was found guilty last year of the 23-year-old's murder in a random attack beside the Grand Canal in Tullamore in January 2022.
A jury at the Central Criminal Court reached a unanimous guilty verdict in November 2023 after a trial lasting just over three weeks.
Puska will be entitled to the same legal representation he had for his trial at the Central Criminal Court - a solicitor, senior counsel and two junior counsel.
During his trial, the jury heard Puska told garda detectives that he stopped working in 2017 after slipping a disc in his back.
Prior to a jury being sworn to hear Puska's trial his lawyers made a number of objections to the evidence the prosecution intended to call, including that the jury should not hear Puska's confession to gardaí two days after the stabbing. They said that Puska was suffering the effects of abdominal surgery and under the influence of the painkiller oxycodone and that his confession was therefore involuntary.
They also objected to the prosecution showing CCTV footage of Puska following two women in Tullamore town centre before heading to the canal where he came upon Ms Murphy, walking alone.
The trial judge's decisions to allow those and other pieces of evidence to go before the jury are likely to form the basis for Puska's appeal.
