A Co Louth man has appealed to the Supreme Court against an order for his extradition to Spain where he is wanted for the murder of his wife.
On May 27th, the president of the High Court, Mr Justice Joseph Finnegan, made an order for the extradition to Spain of Michael Dermot McArdle (36), Brookfield, Heynestown, Dundalk.
The order was the first of its kind to be made here under the European Arrest Warrant Act, 2003, which came into effect in 2004. Mr McArdle is wanted in Spain for the alleged murder of his wife Kelly Anne, who fell from a hotel balcony in Marbella on February 12th, 2000.
Roderick O'Hanlon SC, for Mr McArdle, made an unsuccessful application yesterday to have the appeal adjourned because of a judgment by a Spanish court on October 10th which, he argued, declared the European Arrest Warrant procedure "a nullity".
Mr O'Hanlon said he had only just obtained "a free translation" of the Spanish judgment and wanted time to get a full translation to establish if it had relevance to the appeal. He said it referred to an Irish citizen who was wanted for extradition from Spain to Germany.
The Chief Justice, Mr Justice John Murray, said the court was not satisfied that an issue of law relevant to the appeal existed and the court had decided that the appeal should not be adjourned.
The appeal hearing is expected to conclude today after which the court may reserve its judgment.