§ Mr. McNamaraTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will publish in theOfficial Report, the text of his letter of 19 October to the hon. Member for Kingston upon Hull, North where he refers to the difficulties involved in the use of the Criminal Jurisdiction Act 1975 and its equivalent to the Republic of Ireland to try alleged offenders in one jurisdiction for offences committed in the other.
§ Mr. Ian StewartMy right hon. Friend wrote to the hon. Member on 19 October 1988 in the following terms:372W
You wrote to the Prime Minister on 26 September advocating greater use of the Criminal Law (Jurisdiction) Act 1976 to have fugitive terrorist offenders tried in the Republic of Ireland rather than seeking their extradition.The provision of our Criminal Jurisdiction Act 1975 and the 1976 Act which is the equivalent Irish legislation give rise to certain difficulties which make its use more restrictive than extradition. But I can assure you that the Attorney General and the prosecuting authorities do bear the Act very much in mind when seeking to bring fugitives to justice. If a suitable case arises it will be used. Our policy is to use the most effective route in any given instance.It is the Government's expressed concern that there should be no hiding place for terrorists anywhere in the island of Ireland and that those accused of serious crimes should not be able to escape justice by fleeing the jurisdiction. The Irish Government shares that concern. That is why we are working together to make the arrangements for dealing with fugitive offenders as effective as possible".
§ Mr. McNamaraTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will list the difficulties referred to in his letter to the hon. Member for Kingston upon Hull, North of 19 October.
§ Mr. Ian StewartThe main difficulties with the use of the extraterritorial legislation to proceed against terrorists apprehended in the Republic of Ireland stem from the fact that a case prepared in one jurisdiction has to be run in another, with a differing system of justice, particularly with regard to rules of evidence. The precise areas will of course vary accordingly to the particular details of each case.
As my right hon. Friend stated in his letter of 19 October to the hon. Member, the Attorney-General and the prosecuting authorities do bear the legislation very much in mind when seeking to bring fugitives to justice. Both we and the Government of the Republic of Ireland are working together to make the arrangements for dealing with fugitive offenders as effective as possible.