A court has ruled Brian Meehan can proceed with his bid to have his conviction for the murder of journalist Veronica Guerin declared a miscarriage of justice.

The Director of Public Prosecutions' attempt to have the case struck out has been described as 'misconceived' by the Court of Criminal Appeal.

Meehan (47) from Crumlin in Dublin was convicted of the murder by the non-jury Special Criminal Court in 1999 and was jailed for life.

It found he drove a motorbike up alongside the Sunday Independent journalist's car on the Naas Road allowing the pillion passenger to shoot her dead.

However he contends details about witnesses to the killing emerged during the 2001 trial of drug dealer John Gilligan, who had been acquitted of Veronica Guerin's murder.

Meehan claims these witnesses, who were not called at his trial, may have been critical to his defence.

He seeks an order under Section 2 of the Criminal Procedure Act, 1993 quashing his conviction and life sentence as a miscarriage of justice on the basis of a new or newly discovered fact.

The DPP claims his case is wholly without merit.

However the Director's pre-emptive strike to have the proceedings dismissed before its merits are considered has been described by the Court of Criminal Appeal as 'misconceived'.

The court has also ruled that the Director has not established grounds to justify a preliminary hearing to decide whether the miscarriage of justice application is an abuse of process in circumstances where it is argued that the material Brian Meehan intends to rely on was known at the time of his original appeal in 2006.

The DPP wanted these matters determined before the making of any order allowing documents to be disclosed to Brian Meehan, but the court again used the word 'misconceived' in describing the Director's request for a preliminary hearing.

The ruling means the merits of Brian Meehan's miscarriage of justice application will be decided at a full hearing in the ordinary way.