April 11th: Gardai from Crime and Security Branch arrest Anthony Duncan at Finglas. He is taken to Lucan Garda station for questioning under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act, which allows his detention without charged for 48 hours.
April 12th: Duncan is still in Lucan station. Gardai notify New Scotland Yard. An extradition warrant is prepared and brought to Dublin by a detective superintendent from the London Metropolitan Police Force's anti terrorist unit. It arrives at Garda HQ at 10.45 p.m.
April 13th. The warrant is served on Duncan at 8.40 am. At 9.30 a.m. the case file, including the warrant, is inspected by a solicitor from the Chief State Solicitor's office at the Bridewell Garda station.
At 10.30 am. Duncan appears at Dublin District Court, next door to the Bridewell. The hearing is adjourned shortly afterwards as it emerges there is - a fault in the warrant.
At 1.45 p.m. the State Solicitor informs the court there is a "fundamental flaw" in the warrant and the State cannot proceed with the application to extradite Duncan. He is rearrested when he leaves the court, on a charge of IRA membership, and returned to custody.
April 14th: A second warrant arrives from London and is inspected and affirmed by the Attorney General. The Minister for Justice is informed of the events by an unnamed official. She directs the Secretary of the Department of Just ice to "convey to the Garda authorities . . that I wanted a full report on the matter as soon as possible".
April 17th: Notice is given of a Dail Question, for answer on Order of Business, by the Progressive Democrats leader, Mary Harney.
April 8-19th: Sergeant at Extradition Section of Garda HQ is transferred to "the public order section, in crime branch.
April 24th: The Taoiseach informs the Dail: "I have no reason to believe that there was any error or omission on the Irish side on this matter .
May 15th: Further questions from Liz O'Donnell (PD) elicit a reply from the Minister that the Garda had yet to establish the reasons why the original warrant was not available to the court.
May 19th. Nora Owen, in "casual conversation" with the Taoiseach, says something to the effect that: "It may be that the problem is on our side."
May 21st: Minister receives final report from Garda. She informs Dail that the original warrant was "destroyed accidentally."
May 22nd: A Garda statement says: "All of the documentation was photocopied a number of times and excess copies were disposed of, perhaps shredded."
