Dozens of cases due to be heard yesterday in a new initiative designed to deal with the backlog in the Dublin District Courts have been adjourned.
They were adjourned because a judge said it was an attempt to abolish holiday sittings.
Judge Thomas Fitzpatrick said it would be setting an "unhealthy precedent" if he was to deal with more than 50 cases listed before him yesterday in the Richmond building.
This is the first time that full court lists have been set down for the month of August, which has been traditionally regarded as the main holiday period for the lower courts.
Judge Fitzpatrick said he was not prepared to deal with anything other than urgent business. "This is a vacation sitting and I will not allow the vacation sittings to be abolished. It is an unhealthy precedent."
All cases before Judge Fitzpatrick were adjourned to dates in September.