The Government is obliged to introduce legislation giving effect to new extradition arrangements between Ireland and all other EU member-states, the Minister for Justice told the Dáil.
Mr McDowell said that "this is not a policy initiative in which we are free agents to accept or reject these matters". He told the Dáil that the European Arrest Warrant Bill "represents a major development in our relations with other EU member-states. It is mandatory for us to do this." Defending the legislation, the Minister said that EU membership involved the free movement of person, capital, goods and services and "those same freedoms and opportunities need protection from those who would abuse them in order to evade justice".
The Bill replaces Ireland's existing extradition arrangements with individual EU member-states and the Minister said the legislation represented a careful balance between the need for a more efficient system of extradition and the provision of safeguards to protect the rights of the individuals concerned.
The legislation makes it compulsory for the extradition of a person wanted for an offence carrying at least a year's sentence. There are 32 categories of major offences, with a three years or more penalty, and a state can seek extradition even if what the suspect is alleged to have done is not an offence in the other country. But Mr McDowell said that all 32 categories are already considered serious offences in Irish law.
Fine Gael's justice spokesman, Mr John Deasy, said it was an irony that the first crime on the list of compulsory extradition offences was membership of an organised crime gang. "Considering the Minister's recent statements on membership of organised crime gangs, there is an irony there. If one commits the offence of being a member of a criminal gang in Spain, for example, then under this legislation one can be extradited from that country even though it is not a specific offence to be a gang member in Ireland."
The Labour party spokesman, Mr Joe Costello, said the manner in which the legislation was presented was "putting the cart before the horse". The scrutiny of EU legislation was flawed and that the scrutiny of this legislation was "most flawed". He added that no proper opportunity was given to discuss the contents of the far-reaching EU directive, leading to legislation that the State was obliged to pass into domestic law. "That is no way to do business," he said.
Sinn Féin opposed the legislation and introduced its own amendment.
Its spokesman, Mr Aengus Ó Snodaigh, said the Bill was "obviously considered by the Minister and others to be an essential element of the so-called EU anti-terrorism road map but it will undermine long-standing and hard-won civil liberties and basic freedoms".
