The High Court will be asked today to quash decisions made by a District Court judge which resulted in the release of five men who had been held in connection with a £3 million cannabis seizure in Dublin.
Gardai also have until this morning to decide whether to release or charge a sixth man arrested a week ago in connection with the seizure.
All six men were arrested following the discovery by gardai of 300kg of cannabis at a house in Pineview Road, Aylesbury, Tallaght, Co Dublin, on November 13th.
The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) secured permission in the High Court on Friday to apply for orders quashing decisions of Judge William Early, which led to the release of five of the men.
The five, who were all arrested on the day of the seizure, had been released, rearrested and charged with offences under the Misuse of Drugs Act before being brought before Judge Early last Tuesday. He ruled that the rearrest was unlawful, and therefore the charges against them, their subsequent custody and appearance in court were also unlawful.
Three of the men were rearrested for a second time and brought before the same judge on Thursday, when they were again released.
The judge indicated that the only rearrest possible was if the Garda could show it had new information, the High Court heard on Friday.
Counsel for the DPP, Mr Feichin McDonagh, told Mrs Justice McGuinness that in the DPP's view the orders made by Judge Early were unwarranted by any interpretation of the relevant legislation. Mrs Justice McGuinness will also hear this afternoon's application to have the judge's orders quashed.
The sixth man, who remains in Garda custody, was arrested last Monday, four days after the drugs seizure. A 48-hour extension to his detention was granted on Saturday by District Judge Thelma King, giving the Garda until 11.50 a.m. today to decide whether to charge or release him.
He was being held under drugtrafficking legislation which allows for a maximum detention period of seven days.
The case has led to political controversy, with Fine Gael, Labour and Democratic Left threatening to withdraw all Dail co-operation from the Government tomorrow unless the Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, agrees to make a statement and answer questions in the Dail on the matter.
Mr O'Donoghue's spokesman has said he will do so, but only when the courts have finished dealing with the issue. Last week he was strongly criticised by Opposition deputies for not answering certain questions on the details of the handling of the case by the authorities.
Should the Opposition carry out its threat not to co-operate with Dail business, there could be serious disruption of proceedings this week involving regular calls for Dail votes on usually non-contentious matters.
