Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

The amendment provides for a person to be allowed temporary release to an enforcement authority other than the Garda and for a person to be made available to foreign law enforcement authorities.

The Garda Síochána has overall responsibility in this jurisdiction for the prevention, detection and investigation of offences. This amendment would only serve to add confusion to that. The Garda, as the primary body with responsibility for prosecuting criminal offences, would expect to be asked for assistance by any other bodies which might require it. As Senators are aware, there are many statutory bodies which have a role in the enforcement of the law, for example, the Health and Safety Authority, and I assume it is not intended to release prisoners on a temporary basis for the purposes of assisting these bodies.

In regard to the issue of making a person available for the purposes of investigations which involve another jurisdiction, procedures are already in existence for mutual assistance, under section 53 of the Criminal Justice Act 1994, to cater for such circumstances. That provision will be supplemented by the criminal justice international co-operation Bill, which is in the course of preparation and will give effect to a number of EU instruments and a Council of Europe agreement regarding mutual assistance.

These instruments contain provisions in regard to the temporary transfer of detained persons to other states or territories to assist in investigations which will allow for temporary release to assist with investigations in another jurisdiction where the prisoner has not consented. The regime for dealing with a prisoner who is required to be transferred to another jurisdiction or territory for investigation can be dealt with under this proposed legislation. This will provide a proper structure and a system of reciprocal and mutual international guarantee which will protect the interests of the sending and requesting states.

In these circumstances, it is inappropriate to include a provision in this legislation. The current position is that the consent of the prisoner is required for such international co-operation. When the legislation to give effect to these provisions comes into operation, that will no longer be the case and we will have the concept of extradition for questioning. The development of that area is sensitive and requires careful delineation of the responsibilities of the states involved and the rights of the parties to be subject to that process. The legislation to give effect to these provisions will be published in 2004. For those reasons, I do not propose to accept this amendment.