This section deals with the arrest of a person in the context of the legislation. One of our concerns about the extradition procedures is the safeguards in place in various jurisdictions in the context of arrests taking place. This section is silent on that matter with the exception of the statement that the suspect is to be informed of his or her alleged offences and so on. We would like an indication from the Minister of State regarding the safeguards in the legislation in this area because there is concern that no other EU member state has similar arrangements and there is a quite a disparity between jurisdictions in the way in which detainees are treated in terms of detention, interrogation and the judicial process.
Our way of dealing with extradition is different from other countries. Many provisions in our legislation have been developed over the years to protect suspects in custody to a greater degree than is the case in a number of other jurisdictions. I do not envisage a case similar to the recent one involving trainspotters in Greece occurring in this jurisdiction. The amendment relates to civil liberties.