Seanad debates

Wednesday, 12 March 2003

Convention on the Future of Europe: Statements.

 

The issue of trying to move towards some sort of common recognition of arrest warrants within legal systems is an interesting one. Deputy John Bruton will be familiar with a particular difficulty as he is a member of the committee which deals with it at the Convention, that is, what happens once someone is arrested? In some countries it is regarded as acceptable and normal practice that people are arrested and detained for quite some time before being charged. It is, therefore, possible for the charge to be investigated while they are still in detention. The legal requirement in this country is that a person must have goods on him on her before he or she is arrested and one must be in a position to charge him or her almost immediately. I am still uncomfortable with the notion that our citizens would be automatically open to arrest and extradition and could be detained in a Greek jail, for instance, for two years, before being charged. It is necessary to work out some of these issues before we can go down that road. However, I have no difficulty with the concept in principle, on the contrary, I support it.

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