The jury in Sean Fitzpatrick’s trial have been told to return to court next week when it is hoped they will hear from the first witness.

The former CEO of Anglo Irish Bank is accused of misleading auditors Ernst & Young between 2002 and 2007 about multi-million euro loans.

This trial was originally pencilled in for 12 weeks and was due to be finished before Christmas.

However, a number of legal issues have arisen since the jury was sworn in on September 21, 2016, and the prosecution has yet to present any evidence.

This morning the jurors were given an update on the expected duration of the trial.

Judge John Aylmer thanked the 13 men and women for their patience and told them the trial was overrunning to a significant extent.

He said it would continue in legal argument until next Wednesday and they would not be needed until then.

Two jurors have already been excused and Judge Aylmer said he didn’t want to trespass on anyone’s plans over the Christmas holidays.

He said it was now predicted the case could go on until the end of February and the jury said they were happy to sit until then.

Mr. Fitzpatrick is facing 27 charges under the Companies Act. He denies them all.