Gangsters, white-collar criminals and corrupt officials will not find sanctuary in any EU state under a new extradition law being drawn up by the Government.
The State will be able to seek the extradition of people wanted for fiscal or revenue offences where force, perjury or forgery has taken place. The provisions will apply to any Government official suspected of corruption.
The enactment of the legislation will allow extradition from countries such as Spain, where a number of tax-evaders and organised crime figures have been resident.
If it can be shown that fiscal or revenue crimes have been committed, the offenders will be extradited quickly to the EU country where the offences took place. New EU-wide procedures will also be enacted to expedite the process.
The legislation will provide for the setting up of a central authority to deal with extradition requests and the transmission of documents by facsimile. There have been occasions when the processing of extradition documents has caused difficulties in court.
The proposed arrangements were agreed yesterday by the Government and will be introduced by the Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue. The legislation will give effect to measures decided under the EU Justice and Home Affairs Conventions since the mid-1990s. These cover the general rules of extradition and the simplification of procedures.
Under the proposed Act, the use or threat of force or perjury or the forging of a document issued under statutory authority could lead to extradition, as could an offence alleged to have been committed by a Revenue official in his capacity as a tax or customs officer.
At present Ireland extradites Irish nationals where there is an agreement with the requesting state providing for the extradition to Ireland of that state's nationals on a reciprocal basis. This system will continue.
The arrangements will reduce the threshold for extradition to offences carrying sentences of six months. The previous threshold was for offences carrying a 12-month sentence.
The Bill is the latest in a succession of anti-crime and anti-corruption measures introduced by Mr O'Donoghue since he became Minister for Justice.
The proposed legislation, to be known as the Extradition European Union Convention Bill 2001, also removes the "political" exemption. The political offence exemption was largely removed in 1994 when the State signed the European Convention on Suppression of Terrorism Act, 1987, and the Extradition Amendment Act, 1994.