This Adjournment Debate arises out of growing concern that the extradition arrangements between Ireland and the Federal Republic of Germany are in a state of failure and that no extraditions have occurred despite numerous requests by the federal authorities in Germany for extraditions from Ireland to Germany.
Ireland is a party to the European Convention on Extradition. It is a sad fact that notwithstanding our adherence of that convention we have not succeeded in delivering to Germany people who could, practically speaking, be extradited to Germany under existing arrangements. It is noteworthy that the German constitution prevents the extradition of German nationals to any other country in the EU. It is equally noteworthy — though it is infrequently publicised — that Ireland's extradition arrangements prohibit the extradition of Irish nationals to most of the civil law jurisdictions in Europe, including Germany. Whereas on the German side there is a constitutional ban, in Ireland there is effectively a legislative ban on the extradition of Irish nationals to Germany. Maybe that is unfortunate but that is how things are. I am not here to complain about the state of affairs but about the state of affairs which exists in relation to fugitive German nationals coming to Ireland and not being amenable to West German law.
In the post-Maastricht situation we have created a common travel area in Europe in which all European member state nationals are considered to be citizens of the European Union. In that context, and given that freedom of mobility, it is essential that member states co-operate with each other fully in the extradition of nationals who are fugitives from the domestic system of justice. Just as it would be unacceptable if an Irish person who was wanted for a very serious crime took a plane to Frankfurt and effectively became non-amenable to Irish law, equally it is unacceptable that German nationals who come to this country should be non-amenable to extradition to face justice in their own country in respect of offences alleged to have been committed there.
The German Government on a number of occasions has made requests to the Irish Government for the extradition of German nationals to Germany and it has had an appallingly high failure rate. That state of affairs is unacceptable. Clearly people who are engaged in drug dealing, theft or financial misdemeanours of various kinds, should be amenable to German law and we should not allow Ireland to become, in the public perception in Germany, a safe haven for people who have offended against German law and who are not extradited.
The Director of Consumer Affairs stated recently that our poor protection of investors in Ireland might make this country an apparent haven for fraudulent investment companies. He made the point that if in that context a documentary was to be screened on German television pointing out how easy it is to avoid financial investment laws in Germany by coming to Ireland and operating from here, there could be a major scandal that could do grave damage to this country.
In regard to fugitive offenders, Ireland has not been extraditing West German nationals to Germany. The German Government is so concerned about this that in 1992 at a meeting in Bonn, which Irish officials attended, an undertaking was given to the German Government that a set of guidelines would be provided to it. In that context they would be guided by the Irish Government in the ways in which it was possible to make effective requests for extradition to the Irish State. Over two years later those guidelines have not yet been furnished to the German Government. That is a serious matter because it is causing concern in Germany that fugitive offenders are coming to this jurisdiction and are, effectively, immune from extradition because of procedural hiccups. On one occasion the West German Government sought the extradition of an Irish national and it was not even told, in the first instance, it was wasting its time, that because the person was an Irish national she could not be extradited to Germany. On the contrary it was told there were documentary and evidential problems with its request for extradition. There is a need for transparency and candour between the Irish and German Governments and a new spirit of co-operation.
Immense damage will be done to this country if this State does not operate whatever extradition arrangements we have in a co-operative, positive and friendly way with the German state. Great damage will be done to Irish-German relations if successive requests for extradition are turned down on procedural and evidential grounds for want of establishing a proper routine and creating a set of circumstances in which the Germans can put reasonable requests for extradition before the Government and have those requests dealt with in an expeditious manner.
I am aware of the deep-seated unhappiness in Germany with the present arrangements. I ask the Minister of State, first, to give this House an undertaking that the promise given in Bonn, which was the subject of a press release at the time, that guidelines would be furnished to the Germans to enable them operate Irish extradition law, will be complied with immediately and that the German Government will not be fobbed off with any further excuses about delays in this matter. Second, in so far as extradition arrangements between Ireland and the Federal Republic of Germany relate to fugitive offenders from either jurisdiction to the other, German nationals to Ireland in particular, the Government should make every effort to ensure that nobody who comes to this country, whether charged with drug dealing offences or otherwise, will find himself or herself in a position where they can hide behind a situation where the two Governments cannot co-operate fully to secure proper and effective extradition between two supposedly friendly member states of the European Union.
