A FRESH warrant for Mr Anthony Duncan's extradition has been received by the Irish authorities from the British police. They seek to charge him with conspiracy to cause an explosion in Britain in 1994.
However, he must first be tried in this jurisdiction on a charge of IRA membership and is currently on remand in Portlaoise prison.
The mislaying, and possible unintentional shredding, of the original warrant by gardai has caused acute embarrassment to the Garda and the Government, particularly the Taoiseach, Mr Bruton, and the Minister for Justice, Mrs Owen.
This is the first time blame for mishandling an extradition has been placed at the door of the Irish authorities.
An admission by the Minister that the failure of the extradition was due to mislaying the original warrant led to uproar in the Dail yesterday. During rowdy exchanges in the Chamber, the Ceann Comhairle, Mr Sean Treacy, adjourned business three times.
Fianna Fail's spokesman on law reform, Mr Willie O'Dea, was asked to leave the House for accusing the Taoiseach of misleading the Dail last month over the collapsed extradition case.
Later, the Progressive Democrats spokeswoman on justice, Ms Liz O'Donnell, was suspended for three days on a vote of censure.
Some of the fieriest exchanges followed a remark by the Taoiseach that in a "casual conversation with the Minister for Justice at some date that I cannot remember, she may have said something to the effect that it may he the problem is on our side".
Apart from media reports late on Tuesday, he said, it was yesterday when he first became aware that the reason for the failure on April 13th of the extradition application definitively lay with the Irish authorities.
The controversy shows no sign of abating today as the Opposition intends to pursue the matter again on the Order of Business, and will press the Taoiseach to allow a full and structured Dail debate" on the issue next week.
Fianna Fail's Chief Whip, Mr Dermot Ahern, said last night he had requested the debate with statements from the Taoiseach on behalf of the Attorney General and from the Minister for Justice". He has also sought a lengthy question and answer session next week.
Insisting that key questions "remain unanswered", Ms O'Donnell last night queried Mrs Owen's authority. She said the "quality of the Taoiseach's knowledge is very important" because on April 24th last, he reiterated he had "no reason to believe that there was any error or omission on the Irish side in this matter that contributed to any of the difficulties."
Though the Taoiseach had distanced himself from apportioning any blame to the British authorities, yesterday a "version of events" had been allowed to develop through the media that culpability for the mix up did not lie on this side of the Irish Sea.
Clarifying what happened when the warrant was forwarded from Scotland Yard on April 12th, a Garda statement yesterday said all documentation was photocopied a number of times and excess copies disposed of, perhaps shredded.
The statement said it had now been established that only the front of the original warrant was photocopied. These copies could not and did not contain the certificates printed on the back of the original.