Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many times since May 2010 a European Arrest Warrant been used to bring fugitives from the Republic of Ireland to the UK; and if she will give a statement.

The Government believes the Arrest Warrant has greatly improved extradition relations with Ireland, and has considered this matter extensively.

Between 1973 and 1999 eight people in total were extradited to the UK from Ireland for terrorism offences. However, during this period the UK made 110 extradition requests to the Republic of Ireland in relation to terrorist offences, meaning that less than 10% of UK requests were successful during this period.

Since April 2010, one person has been surrendered after being charged with a terrorist offence and two people have been surrendered after being charged with terrorist-related offences.

Patrick Gordon was arrested in Ireland in May 2013 and surrendered to the United Kingdom in May 2014. He is charged with possessing documents containing information of a kind likely to be used by terrorists - bomb making recipes to produce napalm type weapons.

Liam Rainey was surrendered to the UK in 2011. He was convicted of kidnapping a well-known republican in Belfast.

Ryan McKenna was arrested in Ireland in September 2013 and surrendered to the UK in February 2014. He is charged with conspiracy to cause explosions and possessing explosives. Along with four individuals he is accused of trying to bomb a railway line using an IED and a home-made mortar.

We are not aware of any UK requests to Ireland for terrorist and terrorism-related offences being refused under the Arrest Warrant.

The Government has also listened carefully to the views expressed by Irish and Northern Irish Minister in this regard. In an article in the Irish Independent on 6 November 2014, Irish Justice Minister Francs Fitzgerald emphasised that the Arrest Warrant had "greatly assisted our mutual efforts to fight cross-border crime and to bring serious criminals, including terrorists, to justice".

The Irish Government also made clear in a letter dated 4 September 2014 from the Justice Minister to the Home Secretary, that if the UK failed to opt in to the package of the Arrest Warrant by 1 December 2014, there would have been no guarantee that the courts would consider their obligations under previously issued Arrest Warrants to be ongoing. This could result in those being held in Irish prisons as a result of a UK issued Arrest Warrant walking free.

Between April 2010 and March 2014, of the 537 people who were surrendered to the United Kingdom from all Member States, 88 were surrendered from Ireland. This represents 16% of all surrenders to the United Kingdom during this period, and is the second highest overall surrender figure of all Member States. The following table sets out the numbers surrendered in each financial year:

The total of 88 surrenders includes:

• Four for murder;
• Two for rape;
• 17 for child sex offences;
• One for kidnapping;
• Two for armed robbery; and
• 11 for Grievous Bodily Harm

During this same period the UK (excluding Scotland) surrendered 114 people to Ireland, including for offences of murder, rape and child sex offences.

Although extradition to and from Ireland was previously covered by the Backing of Warrants scheme, if the UK were not to rejoin the Arrest Warrant it would rely on the 1957 European Convention on Extradition (ECE) in its relations with Ireland and all other EU member states. The Arrest Warrant offers the UK distinct advantages over the ECE.

Firstly, the process of extradition under the Arrest Warrant is quicker and cheaper than under the ECE. It takes approximately three months to surrender someone using an Arrest Warrant. However, it takes ten months on average using the ECE. On average it costs £13,000 to extradite someone using the EAW, and £62,000 using the ECE. This means that it would have cost the UK more than £5.5million more to extradite the same number of people to Ireland between 2010 and 2013.

Secondly, under the ECE certain countries can refuse to extradite their own nationals. This is not possible under the Arrest Warrant.

Thirdly, under the ECE, extradition can also be refused due to the length of time that has passed since the offence was committed. Again this is not possible under the Arrest Warrant.

Fourthly, Article 3 of the ECE allows refusals for ‘political offences’. It would be possible for terrorists to argue that their activities fell within the
scope of this ground for refusal.