Ireland will soon open negotiations on a new treaty with the UAE that could lead to the extradition of some members of the Kinahan crime gang.
At Cabinet today, Justice Minister Helen McEntee will inform her colleagues that agreements on mutual legal assistance and extradition would help significantly in the fight against international drug trafficking and organised crime.
Ministers will then be asked to give their approval to the move.
“I think one of the great successes of An Garda Síochána in recent years has been the development of international law enforcement coalitions,” Minister McEntee said.
“So, we will begin talks with the UAE on an extradition treaty [and] on mutual legal assistance and this will mean that anyone who thinks that they can evade the law in other jurisdictions… they won’t be able to do so in the future.”
‘I really think this is a distraction’.
The Justice Minister says she is confident she will win today’s no confidence vote in the Dáil – insisting the Garda response to the #DublinRiots was ‘really exceptional’. pic.twitter.com/aJyD4OEOjy— NewstalkFM (@NewstalkFM) December 5, 2023
In recent months, there have been a number of visits by high profile Irish officials to Dubai to meet with UAE authorities.
Garda Commissioner Drew Harris visited the country in September and in October, Minister McEntee phoned her UAE counterpart, Abdullah Bin Sultan Awad Al Nuaimi.
Senior UAE police officers flew out to Dublin in October as well.
A number of EU countries already have bilateral mutual legal assistance and extradition treaties with the UAE and last year, the Government signed off on the creation of a new Garda Liaison Officer position in Dubai.
'The net is closing in'
It is widely thought that the leadership of the Kinahan cartel are based in Dubai and in 2022 the US Government offered a $5 million reward for information that leads to their arrest or conviction.
Reward of up to $5,000,000.00 USD for information leading to the Financial Disruption of the Kinahan Criminal Organisation or the arrest and/or conviction of:
Daniel Kinahan
Christy Kinahan Sr
Christy Kinahan Jr
Submit Tips via email to KinahanTCOTips@dea.gov pic.twitter.com/PEafbJkJ8a— Garda Info (@gardainfo) April 12, 2022
In April, Irish Daily Star journalist Kieran Cunningham said he was confident that the “net is closing in” on Daniel Kinahan and his associates.
The negotiation of a new extradition treaty with the UAE is unlikely to impact discussions around individuals cases, the experience of other EU countries suggests.
Kinahan is considered a “person of interest” to Gardaí and would be arrested if he ever returned to Ireland.
Main image: Minister for Justice Helen McEntee.
