A judge yesterday turned down an application to postpone the trial of a garda charged with possession of 23 alleged child pornography images.
Judge Brian Smyth also refused to allow copies to be made for examination by defence experts after the State argued that this could amount to the unlawful production and distribution of the images.
Mr Conor Brough, Wade's Avenue, Raheny, Dublin, denies possession of the images on his personal computer on July 9th last year.
Dublin District Court heard the trial is expected to take two or three days and October 6th and 7th have already been reserved. However, his lawyer told the court yesterday that the defence needed a postponement because of developments.
Two consultants employed by the defence and legal counsel who will be presenting the case needed to examine the images. They were only being allowed to view them in Garda offices at Harcourt Square in circumstances where it does "not allow for free discussion". The defendant was also embarrassed about having to attend Harcourt Square.
Judge Smyth ordered that facilities be made available to the defence to view the images without hindrance at Harcourt Square.