Jim O'Keeffe (Cork South West, Fine Gael)

The Minister referred to murder, which is regarded a major crime in every civilised state. If new legislation were introduced to deal with sex tourism or trafficking, I would be concerned about the possibility of breaching the retrospective principle. While I would regard such activities as heinous, in many countries the necessary legislation may not have been enacted until relatively recently or may not be on the statute book in some countries. No matter how bad an offence is, we cannot and should not extradite someone to a jurisdiction in respect of the commission of an act which was not an offence at the time the act was committed. Otherwise I am happy to accept the provision as proposed. If the Minister can give me some assurance on that point, I will be happy to agree to the amendment.

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