Extradition of people between Ireland and UK will be more complex after Brexit, says Chief Justice

Chief Justice Frank Clarke has warned that extradition of people between Ireland and the UK will become more complex in the wake of Brexit.

Newly established arrangements to extradite criminal suspects are likely to be needed between the two states and those new arrangements could be easier to challenge legally, Justice Clarke warned.

Speaking to reporters after delivering an address at the Institute for International and European Affairs (IIEA), the Chief Justice said he would be “very surprised” if arrangements were not found to replace the European arrest warrant.

“But it is worth saying that the European arrest warrant is easier than traditional extradition,” he said.

“Most countries would say it takes a lot longer and uses up a lot more court time to go through old-fashioned extradition,” he said.

There were also “more grounds for opposing” an extradition being conducted with a non-EU member state. It was “certainly possible” this would result in some suspects avoiding extradition from the UK to Ireland or vice versa.

The thing about the European arrest warrant is that it’s a worked-out system; it’s harder to find holes in.

"But if you have some new system (it would be tested by lawyers) and it would be a while before that settles down,” Justice Clarke said.

In his address, he said he felt additional pressures will be placed on Irish judges when the Republic became the only common law country in the EU after Brexit.

This will result in the need for more judges and cited mounting pressures on Supreme Court judges to sit on European committees.

The theme of his IIEA address was the potential opportunities for Ireland in dispute resolution once the UK leaves the EU.

He said the UK, as a common law country, is and has been a popular destination of dispute resolution, including within international companies with assets and activities across many jurisdictions.

However, after Brexit, he said it was unlikely that rulings from the British courts would be able to apply across Europe as they do at present.

Hence, he said this presented Ireland with a potential opportunity to pitch to take a large portion of the estimated £1 billion annual conflict resolution business in the UK.

He said once corporations had clauses in place providing for Ireland to be used as a location to resolve any conflict, then they could come here for that purpose.

Judge Clarke did warn however that Ireland is not the only country seeking to bid for this work, citing the development of Paris' commercial court now accepting appeals in the English language, which traditionally would have been unheard of.

He said Ireland does have a number of distinct advantages. Firstly, like the UK, Ireland is a common law country, we are within the EU, we have considerable experience in this area and we are English speaking. The common law legal system was much more expensive. And processes, including bringing legal challenges before the courts, could be so much more expensive in Ireland or the UK compared to elsewhere in Europe.