Extradition Act, 1965

Provisional warrants.

49.—(1) A justice of the District Court, on the sworn information of a member of the Garda Síochána not below the rank of inspector—

(a) that he has reason to believe that a warrant has been issued by a judicial authority in a place in relation to which this Part applies for the arrest of a person accused or convicted of an indictable offence under the law of that place, but that the warrant is not yet in his possession, and

(b) that he has received a request made on the ground of urgency by or on behalf of a police force of that place for the issue in the State of a warrant for the arrest of that person, and

(c) that he has reason to believe that that person may be found in the State,

may issue a warrant (in this section referred to as a provisional warrant) for the arrest of that person.

(2) Where the warrant issued in that place was for the arrest of a convicted person, a provisional warrant shall not be issued unless the member of the Garda Síochána states on oath that he has reason to believe that the requirements of subsection (3) of section 43 are satisfied.

(3) The person named or described in the provisional warrant shall on arrest be brought before a justice of the District Court for the district in which he was arrested, if a justice is immediately available.

(4) If not, he shall be brought as soon as may be before a peace commissioner in that district.

(5) If there is produced to the justice or peace commissioner the warrant issued for his arrest in a place in relation to which this Part applies, endorsed in accordance with section 43, the justice or peace commissioner shall proceed as if he had been arrested at that time under that warrant.

(6) In any other case, the justice or peace commissioner may remand him, either in custody or on bail, for not more than three days.

(7) Where at any time there is produced to the person having custody of a person remanded under this section the warrant issued in respect of that person in a place in relation to which this Part applies, endorsed in accordance with section 43, the period of remand shall end, and he shall thereafter be treated as if arrested at that time under that warrant.

If the warrant is not so produced during the period of remand the person remanded shall be released.

(8) A provisional warrant may be executed by any member of the Garda Síochána in any part of the State but shall not be authority for the making of an arrest more than five days after the date of its issue.