Paul Bradford (Fine Gael)

I also have a question about Irish nationals having returned to the State and being required to serve a sentence here for crimes committed in one of the states with which we have an agreement. There is a discretionary provision whereby the Minister, after checking the circumstances in full, can decide not to proceed with an application to the High Court. We have been given an indication of what those circumstances might be but I trust it is the Minister's expectation that the Minister would, in the vast majority of cases brought to his or her attention, decide to let the execution of a sentence proceed. I hope there would only be a small number of cases in which the Minister would not give consent. It is important that this legislation is seen to work and that the Minister's discretion will only be used where it is considered absolutely necessary.

Section 10 provides that the Criminal Procedure Act 1993 is disapplied and the Minister puts forward constructive reasons for that. However, as a result of this section, it is possible prisoners will serve similar sentences for the same type of crime but in a sense they will be serving them under different conditions. The vast majority of them will be imprisoned under the normal arrangements while a tiny minority will be imprisoned under this legislation and section 10 provides that the Criminal Procedure Act 1993 will not apply to them. Presumably this will not have a substantial effect but perhaps the Minister would explain why the Criminal Procedure Act is not applied.

My party supports the legislation. I look forward to hearing the Minister's response to my queries, particularly with regard to prison accommodation. An item which my colleague had hoped to highlight is one which is not covered by the Bill but which must be kept to the fore in our policy for dealing with crime. It is the issue of known drugs criminals who have relocated outside the State and who continue to flood the country with drugs from their new bases in Spain, Holland and other countries. These people are seen as virtually untouchable; they certainly act as if they are. We do not appear to have put in place the legislation to tackle these people and, as a result of their behaviour, thousands of our citizens are suffering. A message must go to these untouchables that this House intends to chase them and inflict the rigours of the law on them. Perhaps the Minister will confirm the Government's intentions in that regard.

This Bill has been long delayed. We should make it our policy to respond in a more hurried fashion in future to international conventions and agreements by putting in place the appropriate legislative foundations for their implementation. I welcome the Bill and wish it a speedy passage through the House.