The Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, has temporarily dropped plans to change Irish prison laws to jail people here for sentences imposed by foreign courts, including those in Turkey, the United States and Serbia.
The Minister had proposed to enforce the change through the use of 13 pages of amendments to the Criminal Justice (Temporary Release of Prisoners) Bill, which were submitted on May 30th.
However, Labour Party TD Mr Joe Costello had sharply condemned the move, arguing that the Minister was trying to ramrod the change through without proper debate.
In the Dáil yesterday, the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, said the Minister for Justice was prepared to draft fresh legislation to bring separate clauses from the EU Schengen Convention and a Council of Europe agreement into Irish law.
"He was endeavouring to move it on rather than bringing in the separate Bill which will be back again in the autumn. If there is an objection to that, he will keep those amendments for an entirely separate Bill," Mr Ahern said.
Once introduced into law, Irish citizens or foreigners who have fled to Ireland could be sent to jail to serve out sentences imposed by a foreign court without the Irish courts being allowed to examine the case.
Currently, Irish courts can refuse extradition requests if the request is deemed to be late, or if there are grounds for believing that the person would be unfairly treated if returned.
Last night, the Department of Justice said the introduction of the changes would have "beneficial effects" for Irish citizens, or foreigners jailed here on foot of court decisions made elsewhere.
"They offer an alternative to extradition that is more favourable to the sentenced person because the sentenced person who flees from the sentencing state to his or her state of nationality would serve the sentence in his or her state of nationality (e.g. no language difficulties, avoiding certain harsh aspects of regimes abroad). Furthermore, they facilitate the family and relatives of the sentenced person by easing visiting arrangement and other contacts," a spokesman told The Irish Times last evening.
The EU Schengen Convention has already been accepted by the Oireachtas, while the introduction of the Council of Europe agreement could require bilateral agreements with each other member-state of the Strasbourg-based body.
