Disclosure in criminal cases

You can read about the process of a criminal trial on our website.

In a criminal trial the prosecution (the side accusing you) must disclose to you all relevant evidence that it has before the trial starts. The prosecution must share both:

• The evidence the prosecution intends to use at your trial, and
• The evidence it has but does not intend to use if that evidence could help your defence.

However, the duty to disclose is different for:

• Summary prosecutions tried in the District Court before a judge without a jury, and
• Prosecutions on indictment, tried before a judge and jury in the Circuit Court or the Central Criminal Court.
  

In a summary prosecution, the prosecution does not generally have to give you all the evidence, including any witness statements, beforehand, even if you ask for them. However, you are entitled to the evidence that you clearly need to get a fair trial.

If you apply to the court to get disclosure of certain evidence, the court will decide if it is in the interest of justice to give them to you.

When deciding to release evidence, the prosecution must consider similar principles.

If you ask for particular items of evidence, you or your lawyer must explain why you need advance disclosure of these.

For a trial on indictment, before your trial the prosecution must give you certain materials which set out the evidence they intend to use in the trial against you. These documents are usually referred to as the Book of Evidence.

When should you get the Book of Evidence?

When the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) agrees to send you forward for trial, the DPP must normally give the Book of Evidence to you (or your solicitor) within 42 days after you first appear in the District Court.

Book of evidence time period extension

The DPP can apply to the District Court to extend the 42 day period and normally the District Court will give this extension if:

• There is a good reason for doing so and
• It would be in the interest of justice to do so

The law does not set any limit on the length of the extension. There must, however, be a good reason for giving the extension, such as, if the Garda investigation is complex and there are a lot of witnesses involved in the case.

If the District Court refuses to extend the time to provide the Book of Evidence, the court must strike out the proceedings against you for the offence. This does not always mean that your case is over or finished. The DPP can bring you before the court again on the same charges.

Giving notice of your alibi

An alibi is evidence that you were somewhere else when the criminal offence took place.

If you plan to rely on the evidence of any alibi at your trial, you must give notice of the alibi to the prosecution within 14 days of being served the Book of Evidence.

The Book of Evidence contains these documents which must be served on you or your solicitor:

• A statement of the charges against you
• A copy of any sworn information (in writing) upon which the proceedings were started, that is, the written complaint made by a Garda
• A list of the witnesses whom the DPP proposes to call at the trial
• A statement of the evidence that is expected to be given by each witness at the trial
• A copy of documentary evidence complied in the ordinary course of business which the DPP wishes to use
• A list of any exhibits (physical items of evidence) to be used at the trial.

When the Book of Evidence is prepared, it is served on you. The DPP can serve additional documents on you at a later stage.

At any time afterwards, the DPP must serve certain documents on you if they exist. These additional documents include:

• A list of any further witnesses the DPP proposes to call at the trial
• A statement of the evidence that is expected to be given by each witness whose name appears on the list of further witnesses
• A statement of any further evidence that is expected to be given by any witness whose name appears on the earlier witness list
• A copy of any further documentary evidence gathered in the ordinary course of business which the DPP wishes to use
• A list of any further exhibits

You have the right to inspect all exhibits mentioned in the list of exhibits.

Who creates the Book of Evidence?

While the Book of Evidence is gathered and served on behalf of the DPP, it is normally the investigating Garda who puts the Book of Evidence together. Work on the Book of Evidence starts immediately after your first appearance before the District Court.

The Gardaí can take a long time to put together a book of evidence especially if the case is complex and there are many witnesses.

Witness statements and evidence

Normally, most of the type of documents in a Book of Evidence are witness statements. Statements from Gardaí, witnesses to the crime and expert witnesses (such as forensic experts and medical experts). These are all gathered by the investigating Garda to list in the Book of Evidence.

Is all the collected material disclosed?

The prosecution may have other evidence that it intends not to use at your trial. Disclosure of this evidence should be made to you, without a request, if the evidence is relevant to your defence.

You can get further information on disclosure in the  Guidelines for Prosecutors (pdf) on the Director of Public Prosecution’s website.

You can find out more about the different types of evidence that can be used in trials. You can read more about witnesses.