THE extradition controversy was more serious than the Brendan Smyth case which brought down the last Government, the Fianna Emil spokesman on law reform claimed.

"In the Brendan Smyth case there was an unconscionable delay which should not have occurred. We accepted that, walked the gangplank and paid the ultimate political price," Mr Willie O'Dea added.

"This case collapsed because of an error in the Garda, for which the Minister is politically responsible."

However, he would not demand Mrs Owen's resignation because of human error in the Garda head office. Nor had Fianna Fail any interest in seeking the head of the unfortunate Garda sergeant.

"Fianna Fail is not in the business of looking for heads that is the prerogative of others and your head will do when some of those on the Government benches are in one of their periodic fits of moral outrage.

Mr O'Dea said that on April 5th there had been media reports of statements by the Government press office attributing blame to the British authorities. This was not denied, or retracted, in any subsequent statement by the Government.

On April 24th, the Taoiseach had said in the House he had no reason to believe that the fault lay on the Irish side. The obvious conclusion was that it lay on the British side.

On May 15th, the Minister for Justice said she did not know what had happened. Then, on May 21st, the full facts were put in the public domain and it was revealed that it was the fault of the Irish authorities, Mr O'Dea said.

The Minister, he added, had stated that the garda responsible was transferred to other duties on April 18th. The Garda knew, therefore, on that date that the document went missing in Garda headquarters and that they themselves were responsible. Otherwise, why take disciplinary actions against the sergeant? All the material facts of the case were known on April 18th. That is the reality.