Extradition (European Union Conventions) Act, 2001

PART 4

Miscellaneous Provisions

Proceedings under Principal Act to be heard before High Court.

20.—(1) The Principal Act is hereby amended by—

(a) the substitution of “High Court” for “District Court” in each place that it occurs,

(b) the substitution of “judge of the High Court” for “judge of the District Court assigned to the Dublin Metropolitan District” in each place that it occurs,

(c) the deletion, in section 3, of the definition of “judge of the District Court assigned to the Dublin Metropolitan District” (inserted by section 3(b) of the Act of 1994 and amended by the Criminal Justice Act, 1999 ),

(d) the substitution, in section 27, of the following subsection for subsection (6) (inserted by section 8(b) of the Act of 1994):

“(6) A person arrested under a warrant issued under this section shall, unless the warrant is cancelled under subsection (5), be brought as soon as may be before a judge of the High Court and the judge shall remand the said person in custody or on bail pending—

(a) the receipt by him of a certificate of the Minister under section 26(1)(a) (inserted by section 7(a) of the Act of 1994) stating that the request for extradition has been duly made, or

(b) (in circumstances where the person is remanded in custody) the release of that person under section 35,

and for those purposes the judge shall have the same powers of remand as if that person were brought before him charged with an indictable offence.”,

(e) the substitution in section 48 of the following subsection for subsection (2):

“(2) If during the period of 15 days referred to in subsection (1) an application is made by or on behalf of a person to whom that subsection applies for an order of habeas corpus, he shall not be delivered up while the application is pending.”,

(f) the substitution in section 29 of the following subsection for subsection (5):

“(5) No appeal shall lie to the Supreme Court from an order of the High Court under this section, except on a point of law.”,

and

(g) the substitution in section 47 of the following subsection for subsection (5):

“(5) No appeal shall lie to the Supreme Court from an order of the High Court under this section, except on a point of law.”.

(2) For the avoidance of doubt, references in the Principal Act to extradition provisions shall include references to the Convention of 1995 and the Convention of 1996.

(3) The amendments effected by subsection (1) shall not operate to affect proceedings brought under the Extradition Acts, 1965 to 1994, before the commencement of this section, and accordingly the District Court shall, in relation to any such proceedings, have the same jurisdiction after such commencement that it had immediately before such commencement.