Evidence in the landmark legal action involving three frozen embryos is expected to finish this week and the case will then proceed to legal submissions by the sides. Judgment in the case is not expected until a later stage.
The final witness, a Swiss embryologist, will resume his evidence tomorrow by video link from Zurich. After being told yesterday that the witness, who is in the middle of cross-examination, is only available for one hour as he had other commitments, Mr Justice Brian McGovern said Prof Gunther Rager would have "to prioritise matters" as this was a very important case.
Six days of evidence from leading experts on the central issue of when human life begins has already been heard.
In the action, a 41-year-old woman, a mother of two, including a child born following IVF treatment undertaken with her now estranged husband, is seeking an order preventing the destruction of the embryos currently being stored at the SIMS clinic, Rathgar, Dublin.
The action is opposed by her 44-year-old husband with the Attorney General as a notice party. The clinic has said it will abide by any order made by the court.
Inge Clissman SC yesterday said the embryologist was free to give evidence for one hour by video link tomorrow. She said he was chairing two international conferences and October was a difficult month for him due to pressure of work.
Mr Justice McGovern said he was not going to restrain cross-examination of the professor. He said it would not be satisfactory if the case was fragmented and he would like to finish the case if possible by the end of this week as he had to go to Limerick to hear cases for a number of weeks afterwards.
John Rogers SC, for the husband, said that while he anticipated his cross-examination would be short, he was completely against the case being put back further as it would not be fair to the judge or the parties involved.
Mr Justice McGovern said it would not be helpful if matters had to close down after an hour even if the cross-examination was near a conclusion. Prof Rager had travelled to Ireland in the past to give evidence in the case and knew how important it was, the judge said. Like everybody else, Dr Rager would have to prioritise things on the day.
The judge said he would be so bold as to suggest the professor considered making time available to give evidence tomorrow. He said the video link will start at 10am tomorrow and he asked that all parties be on time so no minutes were lost.
Mr Justice McGovern has also asked that written legal submissions be forwarded to him and said he was hopeful of finishing the case this week after hearing oral submissions from all sides.