A district Court judge yesterday said he could not recommend the payment of fees to the legal representatives of a man before the court on an extradition warrant. However, he declined to discharge the man as he had done in relation to another extradition matter on Wednesday. Mr James Joseph Byrne, detained in Mountjoy Prison in Dublin, is wanted in England in connection with an alleged murder there in 1996.
Judge James P. McDonnell said he could make no recommendation as to the payment under the Attorney General's Scheme but he took note of the undertaking of the Attorney General to discharge such fees.
He said for him to make a recommendation under the scheme appeared to be ultra vires and he was not going to be a party to making an illegal order.
Defence counsel Mr Charles Corcoran told Judge McDonnell that he had a problem with his order and that he and the solicitors for the defence may have to withdraw from the case because the Attorney General's Scheme could be applied only on the recommendation of the court.
Mr Corcoran said his client should be given the same treatment as the man discharged earlier in the week.
On Wednesday, Judge McDonnell had discharged a man before the court on extradition warrants in relation to robbery and burglary offences alleged to have been committed in the West Midlands area of England.
Mr Robert Barron, for the Attorney General, told Judge McDonnell that the Attorney General was personally aware of the concerns the court had in relation to the scheme. The Attorney General personally, through his counsel, gave an assurance that the scheme did apply in this case, and does apply to extradition cases in the District Court. Judge McDonnell said that in the circumstances of the case the court was prepared to accept the personal assurance of the Attorney General as conveyed to the court by counsel that the scheme did apply to extradition proceedings in the District Court.
He said as far as he was concerned the Attorney General's assurance and undertakings applied only to the case before the court. Judge McDonnell adjourned the case to December 4th.