Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for her presentation and her written submission. I have four brief questions. The first relates to the extradition issue, which those of us who remember the time before the European arrest warrant would be fearful of. The new arrangement under the amendment to section 23 of the 1965 Act would provide for applications to be sent directly to the Minister for Justice and Equality rather than through diplomatic channels or the Department of Foreign Affairs. How will those applications be handled? What is the process under these new arrangements when extradition is sought by Irish authorities externally or by British authorities here?

My second question relates to immigration and the Dublin Convention, which will obviously no longer apply to the United Kingdom. The Minister mentioned both safe third countries and first country applications, both of which are dependent on Britain accepting them, under the legal framework the Minister has set out. Where are we in our negotiations with the United Kingdom on accepting either people who have been accepted for asylum in the United Kingdom and end up here or people who have transited the United Kingdom and come here, who we would normally ask to return to a safe third country? Is it agreed that that would happen?

My third question is about secondary legislation. The Minister says in her submission that other matters are being examined for secondary legislation. Exactly what other issues will be dealt with by secondary legislation? I think the committee would like to know what they are. If the Minister cannot give us a comprehensive analysis of those issues now she might come back to us in writing.

My final question has been touched upon in the Minister's response to Deputy Kenny. Due to the closeness of our relationship with the United Kingdom and the common travel area, will we seek to develop bilateral arrangements with the United Kingdom outside the scope of the normal United Kingdom-EU justice arrangements?