Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 20 Mar 2001

Vol. 532 No. 4

Written Answers. - Prisoner Transfers.

Michael Ring

Ceist:

548 Mr. Ring asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the position on the repatriation of an Irish citizen from England to serve the remainder of his prison sentence here; and when a decision will be made in this case. [7977/01]

Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform (Mr. O'Donoghue):

My Department has received the formal application for transfer of the person concerned from the United Kingdom authorities. It is currently being reviewed by the office of the Chief State Solicitor in order to ensure that the requirements of the Council of Europe Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons and the Transfer of Sentenced Persons Act 1995 and 1997 are satisified. I await their advices in the matter. This, however, should not be assumed to confer my consent to the application.

As I have explained in the past, the Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons requires extensive documentation to be exchanged between both jurisdictions to allow an application to be fully considered. A three-way consent is also required to enable any transfer to take place i.e. from the authorities of both jurisdictions and from the person concerned. On receipt of those consents, assuming they are forthcoming, an application must be made to the High Court for a warrant authorising the transfer of the person concerned and his-her continued detention here.

These procedures are required under the convention and must be adhered to in processing each application. Unfortunately, it is not possible to say how long it will take for this application to be considered. However, every effort continues to be made to complete this process as quickly as possible.