Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

As the Senator implies, paragraph (a) of section 31(1) provides that the Minister can postpone the making of a surrender order until the ICC has determined any challenge to the admissibility of a case or to its jurisdiction. The proposed amendment will have the effect of altering the wording of the first two lines of section 31(1). The result would be an explicit reference to the Minister postponing the making of an order for the surrender of a person to the custody of the ICC or a state of enforcement as the case might be where the time period referred to in section 27 had not expired.

The matter was examined by the Office of Parliamentary Counsel which takes the view that the suggested alternative wording is unnecessary as section 27 already provides for a mandatory time lapse before a person committed under a surrender order made by the High Court will be surrendered. Under the scheme of the Act, the Minister will make the necessary arrangements for transfer pursuant to an order under section 30. Any such order is subject to the mandatory time lapse provisions provided in section 27. The Minister cannot direct that the person be surrendered until the requirements of the part including section 27 have been complied with. Reflecting on the matter and taking into account the advice of the Parliamentary Counsel, I do not believe the amendment is necessary and I do not propose to accept it.