§ Mr. Stanbrookasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will list in the Official Report for each of the last 10 years the total number of extradition cases instituted by the Republic of Ireland in United Kingdom courts under the provisions of the Backing of Warrants (Republic of Ireland) Act 1965 showing how many such cases were successful; and how many were refused on the ground that they involved offences of a political character;
(2) if he will list in the Official Report for each of the last 10 years the total number of extradition cases instituted by the United Kingdom in courts of the Republic of Ireland under the provisions of Part III of the Republic's Extradition Act 1965 showing how many such cases were successful; how many were refused; and how many refused on the ground that they involved political offences or offences connected with political offences.
§ Mr. Merlyn ReesThe full information is not available. The issue or execution of warrants under the Backing of Warrants (Republic of Ireland) Act 1965 and the reciprocal legislation in the Republic's Extradition Act 1965 is a matter for the police and the courts in the two countries 385W and the Executive have no part in this procedure. However, arrangements have been made to obtain information from the police about extradition traffic between
WARRANTS RECEIVED FROM THE REPUBLIC OF IRELAND Number of warrants Fugitives surrendered Surrender refused on the grounds that the offence was of a political character August—December 1975 … 22 20 — 1976 … 52 27 —
WARRANTS SENT FOR EXECUTION IN THE REPUBLIC OF IRELAND Number of warrants Fugitives surrendered Surrender refused on the ground that the offence was of a political character Surrender refused on other grounds August—December 1975 28 15 — — 1976 44 8 1 1 Not all the cases arising from warrants received from or sent to the Republic of Ireland in the periods mentioned in the tables were determined within those periods.