Presiding judge Mr Justice Tony Hunt made the remarks yesterday in the course of a bail hearing. He said that newspaper reports at the weekend, which suggested the second Special Criminal Court would be suspended, was “news” to all of the judges in the non-jury court.

“As far as we are concerned, unless and until Court 2 is removed by legislation, we intend to make full use of it and we intend to give people the earliest possible trial date,” he remarked.

The Irish Times reported on Saturday that the second court is to be wound down from the start of 2020 due to falling case numbers.

It was further reported that the Department of Justice had said that the backlog of cases, which resulted in a two-year wait time for a trial in 2016, had now been cleared.

The second Special Criminal Court came into existence in October 2015 when seven judges were appointed to the new court. It sat for the first time at the Criminal Courts of Justice in Dublin in May 2016.

The court, which is known as Special Criminal Court Number 2, deals with cases which are transferred to it by Special Criminal Court Number 1.

Alison O’Riordan, Ireland International News Agency Ltd.