The selection of a jury for the trial of three former Anglo Irish Bank executives has now been completed.
Jurors have had to be re-arraigned in front of the regular jury panel because of the requirement for a new juror.
Eleven jurors privately spoke to the judge and were excused from serving on the jury before one woman took the oath.
The jury now consists of seven men and eight females. The new juror gave her profession as office clerk.
Judge Martin Nolan explained to the jury panel that the men are accused of allowing “financial assistance for the buying of Anglo Irish Bank’s own shares”.
He told the jury that they must not serve on the jury if they hold such strong views in relation to the “certain public controversy” around Anglo Irish Bank that would prevent them from giving the accused a fair trial.
He also told them they should not serve if they have expressed public views on the trial on internet sites such as Facebook as it could cause embarrassment during the trial if these views become public.
Judge Nolan also reminded members of the jury panel that they cannot serve if they have served a jail term in recent years or if they are garda or a serving member of the defence forces.
He told them if they own or have owned bank shares they should not serve.
The Judge then read out a list of all 103 witnesses and told the jury panel that if any of them know any of these witnesses they should make it know to the court.
The three accused have now been arraigned again. The charges have been read out to them by the court register.
Standing before the court Mr Fitzpatrick, Mr Whelan and Mr McAteer responded one after another “not guilty” to the charges, as they did on Friday last.
The Court then rose for a short break and will sit again at midday when the trial will begin before the jury with an opening speech by prosecuting counsel Paul O’Higgins SC.
The speech is expected to take up the remainder of the day. It will be tomorrow before we hear from the first witness.