The Supreme Court will hear an urgent appeal aimed at delaying the murder trial of hunger-strike prisoner John Dundon later this month.

The 30-year-old of Hyde Road, Limerick is due to stand trial tomorrow at the non-jury Special Criminal Court for the 2008 shooting of Shane Geoghegan.

He is being held in Portlaoise prison where in recent weeks he has refused food and water.

Tom O’Connell SC, for the prosecution, has told the Supreme Court they are anxious for this trial to start as soon as possible.

They claim the lives of their chief witness and her family are under threat.

Addressing the risk, defence lawyers say their client, John Dundon, is now in custody and that the threat dates from 2010 when there was a falling out between the two families.

Martin O’Rourke SC claims they need more time to prepare for the murder trial and he has accused the prosecution of sitting on vital evidence.

He has told the Supreme Court that 2 witness statements made last October were only disclosed to the defence in May.

He says the prosecution served over 25,000 documents on them in recent weeks and they have not had the opportunity to go through them all.

Last week the High Court refused to stall the trial but Chief Justice Susan Denham has agreed that an appeal of that decision should be heard as a matter of urgency in the Supreme Court on June 25th.

That means it is now unlikely John Dundon’s trial for the murder of Shane Geoghegan will start tomorrow as planned.