Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)

I move amendment No. 6:

In page 13, to delete lines 23 to 27 and substitute the following:

"(1B) For the purposes of subsection (1), where a member of the Garda Síochána not below the rank of Sergeant states that he or she believes that a person may not be in the State, the statement is admissible as evidence that the person may not be in the State.".".

This is a technical amendment. Section 16 amends section 33 of the Act of 2003 which deals with the issue of the European arrest warrant by a court in the State. The current text of section 33 requires the court to be satisfied that a person is not in the State before a European arrest warrant can be issued. The section is being amended to allow the court to issue a European arrest warrant once satisfied that a domestic warrant exists for a person and that a member of the Garda Síochána believes that the person may not be in the State. The purpose of this amendment is to align the text 16(d)(1)(b) of the Bill with that of 16(a)(1)(b) so that both provisions refer to the fact that the person may not be in the State.

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