Gerard Hutch: Jonathan Dowdall can begin evidence in murder trial

Gerard Hutch has pleaded not guilty to the murder of David Byrne

Former Sinn Féin councillor Jonathan Dowdall can begin giving evidence on Monday in the Gerard Hutch murder trial, an Irish court has decided.

Mr Hutch is charged with the murder of David Byrne, 33, at a Dublin hotel in 2016, which he denies.

Dowdall was due to stand trial for the same offence but in October he pleaded guilty to the lesser offence of facilitating the murder.

He is serving a four-year sentence for the offence.

Before he takes to the witness box, Dowdall has to be present in court to hear a Garda (Irish police) superintendent from the state's witness protection programme give evidence that his admission to the programme is not performance-related to the evidence he gives against Gerard Hutch.

The chief superintendent in charge of witness protection is travelling abroad and could only give evidence by Zoom.

The court agreed it was preferable to take a "live witness" - albeit of a lower rank - than depend on the vagaries of technology.

The trial has been adjourned until Monday.

Mr Byrne was shot dead during a boxing weigh-in at the Regency Airport Hotel in Dublin in February 2016.

Jonathan Dowdall is a former Sinn Féin councillor

Dowdall was sentenced after admitting to facilitating a murder by renting a hotel room for the killers.

Lawyers for Mr Hutch, 59, had argued at the Special Criminal Court in Dublin that Dowdall's willingness to give evidence against their client was a quid pro quo for having the murder charges dropped.

The presiding judge in the three-judge non-jury court, Ms Justice Tara Burns, rejected that argument.

Dowdall has agreed to take part in the Irish witness protection programme in order to give evidence at the trial.

During the voir-dire - trial within a trial - on the admissibility of Dowdall's evidence, the judge had asked the prosecution about the standing of Dowdall's application to join the state's witness protection programme.

The lawyer for the prosecution indicated that he was not able to answer.

The judge had indicated that she expected an answer on Friday.

On Friday, a barrister for the prosecution indicated that it could be mid-January at the earliest before a final decision is made on Dowdall's application to join the witness protection programme.