I should like to ask the Minister to reply to Question No. 16 in my name, one of the questions that is being taken with a number of others. Will the Minister tell the House the attitude of the Government in regard to the coming into force of the Extradition Act, 1987, on 1 December if some of the changes in the administration of justice, and the Diplock courts, which the Government have put forward, have not taken place by then?

We must all agree that in the public mind there is an interrelationship between the administration of justice in Northern Ireland and extradition. Speaking at Bodenstown recently the Taoiseach said it was clear that at present many Irish people are questioning whether Dáil Éireann should agree to submit Irish citizens to a system of justice in which a large section of the community in the North has not as yet been persuaded to place its confidence. That factual position must be acknowledged and, in my view, that answers the point raised by Deputy O'Malley.