I do not want to waste the time of the House but as I have been pushed on this matter I will repeat what the Minister for Justice said on a previous occasion. She and I stand over what she said on that previous occasion in her statement on 23 May 1996 at Col. 2088 of the Official Report as follows:
... yesterday evening I discussed this matter with the Garda Commissioner with whom I was attending a meeting of the Anglo-Irish Conference in London. In the course of that conversation I learned that the sergeant who had custody of the warrant in this case had been transferred to other duties. I sought precise details on this matter and have learned — about an hour ago — that the transfer took place on the directions of the Commissioner on 18-19 April... The sergeant was in charge of the unit which deals with extradition matters... He was the officer who had custody of the warrant in this case and the Commissioner has informed me... that he felt it would be inappropriate for this sergeant to have responsibility for the handling of extradition papers until the cricumstances of the present case had been fully cleared up.
That was the reply which the Minister gave on that occasion and on other occasions. That is the reality. Any speculation or comment in newspapers or elsewhere contrary to that explanation by the Minister for Justice is wrong.
Regarding the position of the Garda sergeant, the Minister indicated, in response to a written parliamentary question from the Deputy on 5 June, that she had been informed by the Garda authorities that the officer in question was transferred to other duties in the crime and security branch at Garda headquarters. The officer has not been transferred back to the extradition section but he continues to deal with extradition cases in which he previously had an involvement.