A judge grudgingly granted an adjournment to a solicitor in court this week (June 3 ) despite getting a little angry with him a few moments earlier when he felt any additional delay in the proceedings was just wasting the good weather.
“I won't sit 'til half eight and work myself to the point of exhaustion,” said Judge John Neilan to solicitor Barry McLoughlin.
“Why should we waste the good evenings?” he asked, gesturing to the glorious sunshine outside.
Mr McLoughlin was seeking a short adjournment in the case of Keith Reardon (28 ), from Clonown, Athlone, summonsed to answer a charge of having no valid NCT certificate displayed and failing to produce it on time.
“There is some confusion about the taxation bona fides,” said Mr McLoughlin, who sought to have the proceedings put back a week in order to have the matter clarified by the motor taxation office in Mullingar.
In law, a car must have a valid tax disc in place before it can sit for its National Car Test (NCT ).“The [investigating] garda doesn't object,” said Mr McLoughlin, not unreasonably.
“Yes, but I might,” said Judge Neilan.
“Even if they don't, it's no guarantee I'll grant the adjournment.”
Earlier, the judge had told the court how he and the Court Services staff sat until 8.30pm last Wednesday (May 27 ), the night of the Champions League final, to clear an enormous backlog of cases.
However, he soon relented and gave Mr McLoughlin a week to tidy his client's affairs.
