5.1 The European Arrest Warrant Act, 2003 came into operation on 1 January 2004. Section 2 of the Act defines the European Arrest Warrant (EAW) as a Court decision in one member state of the EU addressed to a Court in another member state of the EU for the purpose of "conducting a criminal prosecution or the execution of a custodial sentence in the issuing member state".
5.2 Requests for the preparation of EAWs are submitted to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions by the Extradition Unit of the Garda Síochána. A lawyer in our Solicitors Division drafts the warrant and submits it for approval to our Directing Division. On receipt of a direction to proceed with the application, our Solicitors Division applies to the courts for a warrant. Applications for EAWs are normally made to a judge of the High Court sitting in Dublin. When the order has been granted the warrant is then dispatched to the Department of Justice, Equality & Law Reform. The Department then transmits the warrant to the country where it is believed the requested person is residing.
5.3 Since the introduction of the Act in January 2004 approximately 84 European Arrest Warrants were issued by the Irish courts. 76 were transmitted to the UK, 4 to Spain, 3 to the Netherlands and 1 to Belgium.
5.4 56 of the 84 requested persons were Irish nationals, 22 were British, and there was one each of Tunisian, Nigerian, Romanian, American, Lithuanian and Dutch nationality. The offences for which they were sought covered a wide range of serious offences including murder, sexual offences, drugs offences, thefts and serious assaults.
5.5 Section 33 of the European Arrest Warrant Act, 2003 permits an EAW to be issued only if the offence carries on conviction a term of imprisonment of at least 12 months or, where the requested person is a convicted person, a term of 4 months imprisonment has been imposed. This ensures that applications for EAWs are only made for serious offences.
5.6 Of the 84 warrants issued to date, 38 people have been arrested and extradited back to Ireland. Only one request for extradition was refused. The refusal was based on the passage of time and other considerations. A further 10 have been arrested abroad and are currently before the courts.
5.7 Of the remaining 35 warrants, approximately 5 have been discontinued either because the requested person has been arrested locally in Ireland after the EAW issued or because the requested person or the complainant has died.
5.8 30 warrants remain unexecuted because the location of the requested person is unknown, having moved address at the time the EAW was dispatched to the requesting country. In these cases the Garda authorities will continue to liaise with their colleagues in Interpol in an effort to establish the exact location of the requested person.
5.9 In June 1997 an action plan to improve the effectiveness of collaboration by member states against organised crime was approved by the European Council. One of its recommendations proposed the establishment of a system of mutual evaluation of compliance with international instruments and undertakings in criminal matters. A joint action to implement this recommendation was adopted by the Council in December 1997.
5.10 In 2006 Ireland became the first country in the EU to be evaluated by the multi-disciplinary group on organised crime in respect of its implementation of the EAW scheme. The evaluation process began with a questionnaire and then involved a visit to Ireland by an expert team made up of prosecutors from member states. The experts met representatives from our Office along with representatives from the Attorney General's Office, the Chief State Solicitor's Office, the Extradition Unit of the Garda Síochána and the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform.
5.11 The report has not yet been published although the recommendations made to the Office of the DPP have been implemented. The main recommendations made by the expert team was that consideration be given to increasing the numbers of lawyers in the Solicitors Division of the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions who are available to deal with EAWs. A lawyer from the Office has recently taken part in a similar evaluation of the United Kingdom's implementation of the EAW scheme.
5.12 Since the introduction of the EAW scheme in January 2004 Ireland has experienced only one case where a country has refused to surrender an individual. The grounds in that particular case were the passage of time and other considerations unique to the case. From the prosecution point of view the EAW is proving to be a very effective instrument in securing the return of accused persons.
5.13 The number of extradition files received from the Gardaí at the Extradition Unit in Garda Headquarters has steadily increased since 2004. In 2004 a total of 13 files were received by the Office from the Gardaí; in 2005 a total of 26 were received; and, in 2006 the total reached 40. If the numbers increase as they have done the challenge in the future for the Office will be to be prepared to deal effectively with the increased volume of files. Following on from the recommendations of the expert evaluation team from the Council of Europe, arrangements have already been put in place in the Office to deal with the potential increase in EAW files.
5.14 One very noticeable feature of the new EAW scheme is the speed with which an individual can be arrested and surrendered. For example our Office has had a number of cases where a person has been extradited to Ireland within two weeks of an EAW being issued.
5.15 Since the EAW is a valid document across the EU it is intended to make it much harder for people to use the previous differences between national legal systems to avoid arrest or to find a safe haven in another EU country.
5.16 To work as effectively as it has done, the European Arrest Warrant will depend on EU member states continuing to trust each other's legal systems and accepting and recognising the decisions of each other's courts.