Seán FitzPatrick jury asked back as legal arguments continue

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

Judge Mary Ellen Ring asked jurors in Seán FitzPatrick’s Circuit Criminal Court trial to return on Thursday while legal arguments continued. The jury had yet to hear evidence. The proceedings were reported on 5 May 2015.

FitzPatrick, the former chairman of Anglo Irish Bank, faced 27 charges under the Companies Act 1990. He had pleaded not guilty to every charge.

The allegations concerned a failure to disclose the true value of loans from Irish Nationwide Building Society to him or connected people between 2002 and 2007, when he was an Anglo Irish Bank officer.

The jury was empanelled on 14 April 2015, and legal arguments had occupied proceedings since then. Its six men and six women briefly attended court again on Tuesday, 5 May 2015. Judge Mary Ellen Ring explained that unresolved legal issues prevented matters from formally starting. Those issues had exceeded the two days initially expected, a development she said had not been anticipated.

The judge said she might have a clearer indication on Thursday of when proceedings could advance. She warned that the delay could carry the trial into June, affecting jurors’ family and leisure commitments, and asked them to consider their personal and work circumstances. Jurors needing Courts Service correspondence because of work difficulties could request it. She acknowledged the inconvenience of returning but said they deserved an explanation in person.