A CHALLENGE to the continuing function of the Special Criminal Court is to be heard by the High Court.
The application for leave to seek a judicial review was made by Mr Michael Hegarty who was charged with explosives offences in the Special Criminal Court in November.
Dr Michael Forde SC for Mr Hegarty, said this was an application to quash the Government Proclamation in 1972 establishing the court.
He was challenging the existence of the court on constitutional grounds. The objectives for establishing the court no longer existed. Mr Justice Geoghegan gave leave for Mr Hegarty to seek a judicial review.
In an affidavit, Mr Oliver Kelly Mr Hegarty's solicitor, said there was no longer any justification for the continued existence of the Special Criminal Court which deprived the accused of the right to a trial by a jury of his peers.
Since 1972 there had been such profound changes in the security situation, the administration of justice, attitudes to subversive crime and other relevant matters it was manifest that the ordinary criminal courts were adequate to ensure the effective administration of justice and the preservation of public peace and order.
In establishing the Special Criminal Court in the light of the upsurge in paramilitary violence in Northern Ireland and its effects in this jurisdiction, the Government appeared to have been particularly concerned about the possibility of intimidation of juries.
Mr James MacGuill, solicitor, in an affidavit said the political and security circumstances in Northern Ireland had changed enormously. He was not aware of any circumstances recently where it had been seriously suggested that juries had been intimidated or bribed or that the due administration of criminal justice had been undermined by or on the part of defendants to prevent their trial.
From his experience as a solicitor and from discussion with others who practised criminal law, he believed at present the ordinary criminal courts were entirely adequate.