Call for clear extradition rules

CLEAR extradition arrangements should be in place to ensure paedophiles can’t escape justice in another country, a children’s rights group said yesterday.

The call came after law officers in the United States criticised Ireland for its “failure” to act on a request to extradite a man convicted of child abuse.

Dr James Daly fled the US to Ireland last April just days before he was found guilty of 22 counts of sexual molestation over a seven- year period.

US authorities requested his extradition, but claim the Department of Justice slowed the process with months of red tape.

The California district attorney office said Daly, aged 64, lived freely here for months before absconding to Uruguay.

Daly was arrested last week in the south American country upon a request from the US.

“We have been campaigning for years for international protocols for persons who are known or convicted of paedophilia,” said Caroline O’Sullivan, assisted director of the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.

She said there needed to be clear extradition arrangements between countries.

In a declaration to a Californian court last week, deputy district attorney Stephanie Hulsey said she was “deeply frustrated” by the slow pace of proceedings in Ireland. She claimed a US State Department official said Ireland was one of the worst countries for handling extradition.

Labour’s justice spokesman Joe Costello said the Department of Justice seemed to be particularly slow on matters of extradition.

Ms O’Sullivan also said this system should include the exchange of “soft information” relating to individuals suspected, but not necessarily convicted of, paedophilia and other child abuse.