The Court of Appeal has upheld the refusal to extradite John Joseph Drislane to the United States to face a charge of failing to appear before a federal court.
The Attorney General appealed after the High Court refused in October 2025 to commit Drislane to prison pending an extradition order. In a judgment delivered on June 16, 2026, Collins J said the appeal should be dismissed and the High Court order affirmed.
Drislane had originally been charged with three revenue offences in the US District Court. He pleaded guilty to those offences in June 2004 and remained on bail pending sentence. A bench warrant was later issued after difficulties contacting him, and he failed to attend a required pre-trial conference on January 6, 2008.
A US Grand Jury indicted him in 2011 for failure to appear. Although the United States initially sought extradition on all four charges, Irish authorities advised that revenue offences could not form the basis for extradition under the Extradition Act 1965. A modified request received in 2022 therefore concerned only the failure-to-appear charge.
The central issue on appeal was section 18 of the 1965 Act. It prohibits extradition where a person has, under the law of either Ireland or the requesting country, become immune from prosecution or punishment because of the passage of time.
The Court of Appeal held that the corresponding Irish offence under section 13(1) of the Criminal Justice Act 1984 was subject to a 12-month limit for summary proceedings. That limitation amounted to an immunity for the purposes of section 18, even if a defendant would have to rely on it in response to proceedings.
The ruling settles the section 18 issue and prevents this extradition request from succeeding. Drislane had also cross-appealed a separate High Court finding on the rule of specialty, but the Court of Appeal did not need to determine that issue because its interpretation of section 18 disposed of the appeal.