Ireland

The Court of Appeal of Ireland dismissed appeals against the surrender of two requested persons to Northern Ireland under TCA arrest warrants for offences allegedly committed in 1975 and 1976. Addressing a delay of approximately 48 years in seeking surrender, the Court held that poor administration, maladministration or unexplained inactivity by the issuing State does not, in itself, render a surrender request an abuse of process or justify refusal; rather, the executing judicial authority must assess the reasons for and consequences of the delay together with the requested person’s fundamental rights and apply a proportionality test. Abuse of process requires misuse of the surrender mechanism capable of undermining its integrity, such as failure to cooperate with the executing court, false or misleading information, or use of the procedure for an improper purpose, none of which was established in these cases. The Court also held that the requested persons’ family lives, health conditions and long residence in Ireland did not amount to exceptional circumstances capable of outweighing the public interest in surrender for serious historic offences. In respect of one requested person, the Court further held that a 1978 decision refusing extradition under the former political-offence regime did not create a vested right or permanent immunity from surrender following the replacement of that regime by the European Arrest Warrant Act 2003.