The Department of Justice last night declined to comment on whether it had received extradition warrants for a Cork couple accused of abducting their grandchild from the care of his mother in the US earlier this year.
A Department spokesperson said it did not comment on individual cases when asked if it had received US federal warrants for the arrest of Timothy and Ethel Blake for the alleged kidnapping of their nine-year-old grandson in the US in July.
Earlier, a Garda source confirmed that the Irish authorities had received a request from the US federal authorities in July for the issuing of provisional arrest warrants by the Irish courts for the couple who took their grandson back to Cobh.
The US authorities made a request for provisional warrants to be issued in the High Court on grounds of urgency but it did not meet the urgency criteria after gardaí and social workers established that the boy was being well looked by his grandparents, said the source.
According to the Garda source, the procedure is that the US authorities send the federal warrants to the Department of Justice who in turn forward them to the Attorney General who will rule whether they meet the terms of Irish extradition law.
If the Attorney General decides that the warrants are in keeping with extradition law, they are then sent to the Garda Síochána who will execute them. Those named in the warrants then have the opportunity to contest them in the High Court.
Last week, a Lake County grand jury in Illinois charged the Blakes in their absence with the aggravated kidnapping of their nine-year-old grandson from the care of his mother - their daughter, Serena Benwell - at Winthrop Harbor in Illinois.
Shortly after the Blakes arrived back in Cobh with their grandson, their solicitor, Mr Don Ryan, issued a statement saying the couple had acted in the best interests of their grandchild.