Significant changes will be made to Ireland's prison laws following the Government's decision to jail people here for crimes committed in any Council of Europe member- state and the United States.
The legislative changes have been controversially added to the Criminal Justice (Temporary Release of Prisoners) Bill 2001 in 13 pages of last-minute proposals lodged by the Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell with the Oireachtas late on Friday.
The changes flow from the Government's decision to accede to more sections of the European Union's Schengen Agreement and, separately, to extra sections of the Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Prisoners.
Since 1985, the Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Prisoners has allowed people jailed in foreign countries to be returned to their home country to serve out the remainder of their sentence.
Once introduced into law, Irish citizens or foreigners who have fled to Ireland can be sent to jail to serve out sentences imposed by a foreign court without the Irish courts being allowed to examine the case.
Up to now, Irish courts have been able to refuse extradition requests from such countries for the return of a suspect, or convicted person, if the request is deemed to be unacceptably late, or if there are grounds for believing that the person would be unfairly treated if returned home.
The Council of Europe has been joined by every country in Europe, bar Belarus, but including Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkey, and Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro. The United States, Canada, Israel and Costa Rica have associate membership.
The amendments are added to a Bill which deals with an entirely separate issue, said Labour Party TD Mr Joe Costello last night.
Questioned last night, the Department of Justice said the changes were part of Ireland's commitment under the EU Schengen Agreement, although it made no mention of the fact that the change also affects non-EU countries. Though the Department accepted that the last-minute changes had nothing to do with the main legislation, a spokesman said: "It is the only piece of prisoners legislation that we have going through the Oireachtas, so it was thought logical to add it to it."
The amended legislation will cover any Irish person or foreigner who fled to Ireland after they were sentenced to a prison term of not less than six months, or who fled the country concerned when they had six months of their sentence left to serve.
The Irish courts will be barred from examining the details of individual cases, once a judge accepts that the person has been properly identified and that the sentence awarded by a foreign court is full and final.
Last night, Mr Costello accused the Minister of "an extraordinary attempt to introduce by stealth a series of amendments containing sweeping and far-reaching proposals.
This will bring to an end the procedures for extradition of Irish citizens to serve sentences imposed by European courts.
"The people concerned will simply be locked up here," he said. "Under the McDowell plans, the courts will also be shut out from any substantive review of the enforcement of foreign jail sentences."
