A DISTRICT Court judge yesterday said he was “burning the candle at both ends” because of his workload and had had only one free day in the month of January.
He said these were the job specifications, and he wanted any solicitor in court who was thinking of becoming a judge “to take note”.
Judge Terence Finn, who was appointed to District Court 21 – which includes Clonmel and Waterford – in 2005, was speaking in Tralee, where he had returned for a special sitting of the District Court to give his decision in a preliminary hearing in an allegation of fraud against a solicitor.
The case first came before him in 1996, but has been before the High Court and then the Supreme Court by way of judicial review proceedings taken by the accused until 2008.
The Supreme Court in 2008 ruled against the appellant and the matter is now back before Judge Finn by way of preliminary inquiry.
The judge heard from both the DPP, who wishes to have the case re-entered, and from defence counsel, who wishes to have it dismissed because of the time factor.
The judge said when the matter initially came before him in Tralee in 1996, he was an unassigned judge and had been unassigned since his appointment to the bench in 1992 until 2005, when he was appointed to District 21.
This eastern district to which he was now assigned was “an extremely busy area” and there was little time to deal with matters elsewhere.
He had arrived in Tralee to hear the matter on December 7th, but found there was a lot of material to be considered. The matter had to be adjourned again and bad weather had interfered with a date set for the matter in January.
The DPP was now applying for an adjournment so a key prosecution witness would be available.