The appeal against the leniency of the four year sentence handed down to Wayne O'Donoghue will be heard at the end of July, the Court of Criminal Appeal was told today.
The former engineering student has served 17 months of the jail term in the Midlands Prison for the manslaughter of his 11-year-old neighbour Robert Holohan.
The Director of Public Prosecutions lodged a surprise eleventh-hour challenge to the sentence in February and the court today scheduled the case for July 27.
Cork schoolboy Robert was killed on January 4, 2005 and his body dumped in dense undergrowth at Inch Strand several miles from his home at Ballyedmond Hill, Midleton.
O'Donoghue confessed to the killing having first attempted to cover his tracks.
After a trial in the Central Criminal Court, sitting in Cork, he was found not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter.
His lawyers were today granted extra time to prepare for the appeal after receiving written submissions yesterday from the DPP.
Ms Justice Fidelma Macken said it was not ideal to seek an adjournment but granted a further 20 days.
The DPP is taking the appeal on the grounds that it is unduly lenient.
If the four-year sentence is not increased by the three judge court, he expects to be released from custody in late 2007.