A judge in the civil retrial of two men accused of involvement in the Omagh bombing has warned lawyers that he will not let it be held up by endless delays.
Mr Justice John Gillen said it was unsatisfactory that certain preparatory arrangements had not already been made ahead of the start of the case against Colm Murphy and Seamus Daly.
Their retrial had been due to begin in Belfast High Court this autumn but was delayed after a defence lawyer fell ill.
Today, Justice Gillen put the start date back to January. “Once this trial starts it will go on every single day until it finishes,” he said. “We are not going to have delays.”
Twenty-nine people, including a woman pregnant with twins, died in the Real IRA car bombing in the Co Tyrone market town in August 1998. More than 200 were injured.
No one has been successfully criminally convicted of the bombing, but in 2009 Murphy, Daly and two others were held responsible in a landmark civil action taken by some of the bereaved families.
Along with Real IRA chief Michael McKevitt and Co Louth republican Liam Campbell, the men were ordered to pay £1.6 million in damages.
Mr Murphy, from Dundalk, Co Louth, and Daly, from Cullaville, Co Monaghan, successfully appealed the ruling but the court subsequently ordered that they should face a civil retrial.
The original civil trial made legal history by hearing evidence in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
During a review hearing in Belfast High Court ahead of the re-trial, senior counsel representing the bereaved families Brett Lockhart QC told Justice Gillen that arrangements with the court authorities in Dublin had not been finalised for a similar exercise.
He said he still hoped witnesses could be heard in Dublin before Christmas.
Justice Gillen asked why firm dates had not been set to hear witnesses across the border. “Now I foresee all kinds of trouble,” he said of the prospect of disruption to the trial.
Mr Lockhart said the working relationship with the courts in Dublin was good during the year-long first trial and he envisaged no major problems for the retrial, which is expected to last six weeks.
“Many other things did disrupt the (original) trial,” he said. “Dublin was not one of them.”
Justice Gillen said he would not give up on the possibility of hearing evidence in Dublin before Christmas. “I’m not going to let this happen endlessly being adjourned because counsel can’t appear in this very important case,” he said.
The judge also criticised lawyers in the case for not keeping the court updated in writing with the progress of preparatory work and for not establishing when respective counsel were available.
He warned them that he would make an order holding them responsible for the court costs of any future hearing if he felt they had not come adequately prepared.
The re-trial is set to begin hearing evidence in Belfast High Court on January 14th.
McKevitt, who is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence in Portlaoise prison for directing terrorism, and Campbell, who is fighting extradition to Lithuania on arms smuggling charges, failed in their bids to overturn the Omagh civil judgment.