The High Court has paved the way for the extradition of a Dublin man convicted of causing the deaths of two children in a road accident almost 11 years ago.
46 year old Ciaran Tobin from Offington Drive in Sutton, was sentenced in his absence to 18 months in jail for negligent driving causing the deaths of Marton, 5, and Petra Zotlai , 2, in April 2000 outside Budapest.
He was working in Hungary for Irish Life at the time. Mr Tobin contested the application for his surrender.
In his judgment this afternoon Mr Justice Michael Peart said the arguments raised in objecting to the extradition were not sufficient.
He found that the Hungarian authorities were entitled to bring a second application to extradite him and rejected arguments that it was an abuse of process.
Mr Tobin is expected to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court.
No formal order for his committal has been made pending an application for leave to appeal. He was remanded on bail.
Lawyers for the state said they recognised that issues of public importance would be raised in the Supreme Court appeal and would not be objecting to an application for leave to appeal.
Extradition proceedings brought against Mr Tobin in 2007 were dismissed after the High Court found that under the relevant legislation, he had not fled Hungary after the offence.
The court accepted Mr Tobin's argument that he and his family had left Hungary, on November 30, 2000, following the completion of his work there and that he had never 'fled' Hungary.
The High Court's decision was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2008.
However, a new warrant seeking his surrender was issued late last year following a change in the law under the 2009 Criminal Justice Act.
In the new European Arrest Warrant, it was claimed that the car driven by Mr Tobin mounted a footpath in a built-up area near the Hungarian capital on April 9, 2000, killing the two children.
Mr Tobin had argued that there was no such offence of 'negligent Driving' in this jurisdiction as required by the European Act of 2003.
However the judge said he was satisfied the offence corresponds to an offence here of dangerous driving.
His lawyer had also objected to the application to extradite him on several other grounds including abuse of process, family rights, delay and the prospect of an unfair trial.
Mr Justice Peart rejected the arguments made on all points.
Mr Tobin was remanded on bail pending an application for leave to appeal. The judge said he would hold off on making a formal order for committal until that application and another bail application is made.
