Six women and five men to face one trial over alleged abuse and neglect of children

Lawyers for the DPP have told a High Court that the State intends to run as one trial the cases of six women and five men accused of multiple offences relating to the alleged abuse and neglect of children.

The 11 defendants, who cannot be named for legal reasons, face over 200 charges.

The charges include sexual assault, sexual exploitation and child cruelty and neglect under Section 246 of the Children Act 2001.

The alleged victims are all juveniles and the offences are alleged to have happened on dates between 2014 and 2016.

The defendants were arrested and charged last year. Books of evidence were served on them at a district court sitting last November.

The case was listed for mention in the Central Criminal Court on Monday when Mr Justice Paul McDermott heard applications dealing with disclosure of material by the prosecution to the defence teams.

Mr Justice McDermott also set a date for arraignment on July 13th next and ordered that the defendants, who are on bail, appear before the court on that date.

Bernard Condon SC, for the Director of Public Prosecutions, told the court that it is the intention of the DPP to try all 11 accused on all counts.

He said there is no practical difficulty around running a trial of this size that could not be overcome and he cited an ongoing murder trial which is using two courtrooms to facilitate current Covid-19 restrictions.

The defendants are on continuing bail subject to compliance with strict conditions including that they sign on at their local Garda station and have no contact with the alleged injured parties.