Duration of Northern Ireland trials in cases related to paramilitarism and the Troubles.

I don't think it's a problem unique to Northern Ireland, or to Troubles-related cases. Austerity policies meant that courts in the UK were starved of resources and staff, leading to long backlogs even before the Covid pandemic hit. The Covid pandemic obviously caused further problems, since social distancing requirements made it very difficult to hold criminal trials, and backlogs/waiting lists ballooned. As the system is still starved of resources it hasn't been able to clear those backlogs.

This makes no sense. Why would you imagine that a lack of resources, a backlog of cases, the Covid pandemic and the ill-health of a defendant would have no effect on the progress of a trial?