The arrest of Workers' Party president Seán Garland by the PSNI is to be raised with the US authorities, the Dáil was told.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern would do so "immediately", Minister of State in the department Noel Treacy said.
"Mr Garland is fully entitled to due process and to the presumption of innocence until proven guilty," Mr Treacy added. "Deputies will also understand that the Irish Government does not have the power to interfere in legal proceedings that are taking place in another jurisdiction." He said that such matters were for the courts alone to decide.
Mr Treacy was replying, on the adjournment, to Dublin South East deputies John Gormley (Green Party), Ruairí Quinn (Labour) and to Pat Carey (FF), Dublin North West.
He said the upholding of the rights of Irish citizens, arrested outside the jurisdiction, was an ongoing part of the work of the Department of Foreign Affairs. "Our officials work to ensure that Irish citizens are in no way treated in a discriminatory manner and that they are provided with appropriate legal assistance at all times."
Mr Gormley said the US had little time for civil liberties unless, of course, it involved one of their own citizens, which was why, he presumed, they had not signed up to the international criminal court. "The presumption of innocence, until proven guilty, is the cornerstone of our legal system. Mr Garland may have political views that the US does not approve of; he may have political views that I, or indeed Deputy Quinn and Deputy Carey, do not approve of...
"The issue here is justice and we, as Irish parliamentarians and Europeans, cannot afford to abandon those hard-fought principles of justice for a legal system that has been devised by George W. Bush."
Mr Treacy said Mr Garland was provisionally arrested on foot of a request from the US government for his extradition. The request was made on the basis that Mr Garland was the subject of an indictment filed on May 19th in the US district court for the district of Columbia. The US authorities wanted Mr Garland to stand trial on counterfeiting charges, he added.
Mr Treacy said Mr Garland had been released on bail subject to the payment of surety and daily reporting to a PSNI station, and he had also been instructed to reside at an address in Northern Ireland, pending the receipt of appropriate documentation from the US authorities to support the extradition request.
Mr Garland, he said, had since contacted Irish officials in the intergovernmental secretariat in Belfast. Assurances had been given to Mr Garland that the case would continue to be monitored by the Government.
