Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

I was somewhat shocked to hear Deputies opposite refer to the European arrest warrant as involving no-questions-asked extradition. Equally, it was suggested that it offers no protection for the human rights of persons sought. I can only assume from these ill-informed comments that the Deputies are either not bothered to read the European Arrest Warrant Act in full, have read it and do not fully understand it or have chosen to ignore wilfully its provisions.

Before anyone can be arrested on foot of a European arrest warrant in Ireland, the warrant must be endorsed for execution by the High Court. This is provided for in section 13 in Part 2 of the 2003 Act. Before the court endorses the warrant, it must be satisfied that the warrant complies with the Act. Second, when a person is arrested, he or she must be brought before the High Court as soon as may be after arrest and will be entitled to a full hearing before the court on the surrender request. The person is entitled to a lawyer without charge, if appropriate, and, if necessary, an interpreter. There is also a limited right of appeal to the Supreme Court against an order for surrender.

On the question of human rights protection, I refer Deputies to section 37 of the Act. This section provides that a person shall not be surrendered if surrender would be incompatible with the State's obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights or would constitute a contravention of any provision of the Constitution. It also bars surrender where it is believed the prosecution or punishment was based on one of discriminatory grounds listed or that the person would be treated less favourably on one of those grounds of discrimination. I should point out that the Human Rights Commission, which according to those opposite condemned the 2003 Act in its entirety, welcomed the inclusion of section 37 and, in particular, the reference contained in it to the Human Rights Convention. I trust this dispels any notion that human rights are not protected in the European arrest warrant procedure.

I am also concerned at statements made by Deputies opposite which give the impression that this Bill will in some way automatically extend the scope of European arrest warrants to countries outside the EU. I can only assume from these ill-informed comments that the Deputies have either not bothered to read the Bill in full or have read it and do not fully understand it, or have chosen to wilfully ignore its provisions.

Part 2 of the Bill enables the provisions of the European Arrest Warrants Acts to be extended to countries other than EU member states. As I said in my speech, this is subject to some important limitations. Section 2(3) in applying the European arrest warrant arrangements to a third country may only be made where there is an EU agreement on surrender in force with that third country. Such an agreement would of course require a high degree of mutual trust between the EU and the country concerned.

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