THE only surprising aspect of the homecoming of James Monaghan, Martin McCauley and Niall Connolly in Ireland was its timing.

Rodrigo Obregon, a spokesman for the Wounded Colombia Foundation, a Bogota-based support group for victims of terrorism, said: “As soon as they disappeared from Colombia everyone knew they were going home. Nobody thought they were going to spend their lives in Cuba or Venezuela.”

But the inevitable homecoming appears to have caught everyone by surprise, including the gardai and the British and Irish governments. Peter Hain, the Northern Ireland secretary, said: “This has come completely out of the blue and I want to make it absolutely clear that if they do set foot in Northern Ireland then they will be taken in and extradited.”

Yesterday the Irish authorities seemed to be utterly without a plan. Michael McDowell, the minister for justice, was abroad and Bertie Ahern, the taoiseach, had to interrupt a holiday in Kerry to say something about the issue.

Irish government officials said they would consider an extradition warrant, if they got one. But there was no clear line on how the existing Interpol arrest warrant should be handled by gardai.

The return of the three could blow into an international diplomatic incident, dragging in the Colombian and the American governments, but will certainly damage relations with unionist parties and test the newly revitalised peace process.

Alvaro Uribe, the Colombian president and a key American ally, met President George Bush at his ranch last week for talks on the battle against FARC, the terrorist group the three are accused of training.

“Our two nations are working together to fight drug trafficking and terrorism, and to promote security, democracy and the rule of law throughout the Americas,” Bush said at a joint news conference afterwards. Uribe added: “The great enemy of Colombian democracy is terrorism.”

Francisco Santos, his vice-president, later turned up the heat on the Irish government, saying: “Irish prime minister Bertie Ahern must demonstrate his country’s commitment to the global fight against terrorism.”

The Colombia police are likely to prepare an extradition warrant for the trio.

Jeffrey Donaldson, the DUP MP, intends visiting Colombia next month on a fact-finding trip and has been in contact with the Colombian embassy in London. “Is the Irish government going to harbour fugitives from justice?” he demanded.

“Obviously we will now be seeking a commitment from the Irish government to initiate extradition proceedings. Whilst there may not be a formal extradition agreement with Colombia, that doesn’t mean the Irish government cannot take steps to have these men returned.”

The DUP MPs and party officers will meet tomorrow to discuss this latest stumbling block on the path to political progress, and Donaldson expects that the party will ask for a meeting with the taoiseach to discuss it.

The Colombian authorities believe they deserve the support of the international community to have the men extradited.

The arrests of the trio at El Dorado airport in August 2001 followed an international operation involving intelligence agencies in Spain and Britain, as well as the RUC special branch and US Navy spy planes. The US embassy had also been heavily involved and had carried out forensics tests on the three.

Monaghan, nicknamed Mortar Monaghan, was one of the Provisional IRA’s main weapons experts since the organisation’s inception, and McCauley also had terrorist convictions. Connolly was Sinn Fein’s official envoy in Havana.

The Colombian judicial system first acquitted the trio and they were working their way through an appeal process when they jumped bail and skipped the country.

Apart from dealing with international and unionist demands for their return, the taoiseach also faces a certain amount of tension within his own government. The Progressive Democrats can be expected to take a tougher line than their Fianna Fail colleagues, and yesterday a leading party figure demanded that Sinn Fein turn the trio in.

Senator John Minihan said: “Serious questions must be asked about the men’s reappearance in this country; how did they get here, who helped them, did they use false passports? If so, then they have repeated the offence for which they were originally imprisoned in Colombia. Anyone who helped them in their flight from justice stands guilty of supporting international terrorism.”

Minihan said this was a test of the republican movement’s new pledge to pursue peaceful politics and uphold the rule of law. “There are people in Sinn Fein who know where the fugitives are,” he said. “They should co-operate with the authorities in returning these people to Colombia.”

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