Barry Ward (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Amendment No. 23 deals with the amendment to section 16(i) of the 2003 Act. The reason I raise this issue is that I think it is at variance with what the Minister of State said regarding other aspects. I do not dispute his bona fides in this regard but section 16(1) states:

Where a person does not consent to his or her surrender to the issuing state or has withdrawn his or her consent under section 15 (9), the High Court may, upon such date as is fixed under section 13, make an order directing that the person be surrendered to such other person as is duly authorised by the issuing state to receive him or her provided that—

It then sets out in the following five paragraphs the conditions attached to that. At the moment it states that the High Court may make such an order. The amendment in the Bill in section 10(a)(i) is essentially removing that discretion from the High Court. I understand where the Minister of State is coming from insofar as he is quite rightly approaching this from the point of view that they are infringement proceedings. I completely understand that. However, I have been a consistent proponent of judicial discretion in this Chamber. We can trust judges to make the appropriate decision in these circumstances. I am not in favour of removing that discretion by replacing "may" with "shall". That is true of the other amendments in this grouping as well. I am speaking on amendment No. 23 now but I am acknowledging that this applies equally to amendments Nos. 28 and 47. On that basis, it is inconsistent with the approach the Minister of State is taking to other amendments where he is, for example, rejecting my amendments that would remove certain discretions but is now rejecting my amendment that would retain certain discretions. There is inconsistency in the Government's approach to it in that regard. As I have said, I do not dispute the Minister of State's bona fides. I also acknowledge that there is a greater understanding within the Department of where this lies in the context of the framework, its application and its transposition into Irish law. It is something I might think about so on that basis, I will withdraw the amendment.