Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

Section 5 of the Bill provides for a person arrested under the terms of the agreement to be brought before the High Court as soon as possible. That partly addresses the point made on the earlier section by the Senator.

Section 9(2) of the Bill provides that the court in making an order committing an arrested person to prison will inform the arrested person of a range of matters. These include the fact that he or she will not be surrendered except with his or her consent until 15 days after committal; the fact that the person may make, or have made on their behalf, a complaint to the court concerning their unlawful detention in accordance with Article 40.4.2o of the Constitution; the fact that the person may if he or she is not surrendered be liable to proceedings in the State arising out of the circumstances which led to or followed the arrest.

Senator Terry's amendment proposes that the person being committed to prison at that stage should also be informed of the evidence proffered against them by providing a summary of the evidence it is proposed to give to the flag state. As indicated already, in accordance with section 5 of the Bill, persons arrested are brought before the High Court as soon as possible following arrest. The court has to be satisfied under section 6 of the Bill that the person has been lawfully arrested, prior to remanding them. The court is not required at that stage to have at its disposal the evidence preferred against the arrested person or a summary of the evidence that is proposed to be given to the convention state.

As indicated in a response to a previous amendment, Article 13.1 of the agreement requests that a summary of the evidence be transmitted without delay to the flag state. The explanatory report governing the provisions in this agreement interprets "without delay" as being as soon as the evidence has been gathered and summarised. Accordingly, the proposed amendment by Senator Terry that this material be furnished to the arrested person on their being committed to prison is not what is envisaged as appropriate under the terms of the agreement.