Documents sought by lawyers for Mr Michael McKevitt, the first person charged in the Republic with directing terrorism, are still within British and US jurisdictions, the Special Criminal Court has been told .
Mr McKevitt (51), Beech Park, Blackrock, Dundalk, Co Louth, is charged that between August 29th, 1999, and March 28th, 2001, within the State, he was a member of an unlawful organisation styling itself the Irish Republican Army, otherwise the IRA, otherwise Óglaigh na hÉireann and that he directed the activities of that organisation.
It is the first prosecution for directing terrorism under legislation brought in after the 1998 Omagh bombing, and anyone convicted of the offence faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
Mr James McGuill, solicitor for Mr McKevitt, told the court that the State's case rested on Mr David Rupert who, he claimed, was "recruited and operated by the British Secret Service, the FBI and the Garda".
It was particularly unsatisfactory that the State had not yet supplied the documentation and that it should have requested it from the British and US authorities nine months ago.
Prosecution counsel told the court that the State, after receiving the documentation from other jurisdictions, needed to view and assess the information before furnishing it to the defence.
Mr Justice Barr agreed to a week's adjournment.
He told the prosecution that it was important to clear the way for the trial.
Last December the court provisionally fixed June 4th as the date for Mr McKevitt's trial, which is expected to last at least four weeks.
However, it has heard that the defence will not be in a position to go ahead with the trial on that date.
The court has fixed April 30th for hearing a defence application for disclosure.
It was told at an earlier hearing that the defence had already been furnished by the prosecution with more than 2,000 e-mails relating to the case.
The court has also been told that Mr Rupert was observed by gardaí meeting Mr McKevitt on a number of occasions.
The court also heard that he successfully infiltrated the "Real IRA" leadership and attended its army council meetings and that Mr McKevitt allegedly met Mr Rupert over a two-year period and asked him to acquire equipment for the dissident republicans.