Damien English (Meath, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 481: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of foreign nationals who have been charged or convicted of crimes by category here; the number of persons convicted; and if he intends to apply the Transfer of Execution of Sentences Act 2005. [2995/06]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I have been informed by the Garda authorities that the nationality of offenders is not necessarily known or recorded at the time of preferring a charge, or recording a conviction. Therefore, it is not possible to provide statistics on the basis of the nationality of persons who commit offences. The Transfer of Execution of Sentences Act 2005 applies to cases in which persons sentenced by an Irish court fled from this State to their state of nationality without commencing or completing their sentence. In such cases, the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform may, as an alternative to requesting the extradition or surrender of the person, ask the authorities in that state to enforce the Irish sentence. There are reciprocal arrangements in the cases of Irish nationals who have fled back to this State from a sentencing state prior to the commencement or completion of a sentence. As the Act gives effect, inter alia, to Article 2 of the additional protocol to the 1983 Council of Europe Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons, it will be necessary for the State to accede to this protocol before commencement of the Act.