Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

The reference to regimes disturbs me. We are dealing with states in the Council of Europe where there has to be a basic guarantee of fundamental rights and freedoms. We do not propose to accept a transfer of responsibility for sentences imposed in other states which we will not mention here. We will only deal with reputable states and any international arrangement is part of what is loosely termed the committee of nations. We have to respect their cultural views on sentencing just as we expect them to respect our views. If a burglary in Warsaw attracts a higher penalty than a burglary in Dublin, so be it. Ireland co-operates with Poland to the extent that if someone flees from Poland to Ireland, we will accept the transfer of responsibility for the sentence. The person will receive the sentence that would have been handed down in Poland.

As a matter of abstract justice, that may sound strange. On the other hand, we are upholding the respect for the courts in these countries. Otherwise, these countries might not be interested in our transferred enforcement procedures and might prefer to seek extradition. The whole rationale of this legislation is to minimise extradition applications.