Ms McEntee said that the treaty is a result of “extensive engagement” with her Emirati counterpart, Abdullah Bin Sultan Bin Awad Al Nuaimi.

“This process is about putting those at the top of organised crime behind bars and holding them responsible for their actions,” Ms McEntee said. “Any person involved in organised crime should know there is no hiding place: You will face justice.”

While the expectation is that senior members of the Kinahan cartel could be returned to the State to face trial, this legislation will have far-reaching repercussions for others who seek to avoid justice. 

The development comes just a few days after one of the Kinahan lieutenants, Sean McGovern, was arrested in the UAE. 

We report in this newspaper that senior Kinahans now have plans to flee to Russia.

The Government says that the treaty is in line with legislation on extradition and mutual legal assistance that protects human rights. 

It is work that commenced last year and included visits by Mr Harris to meet government officials and his opposite number in the Dubai police.

The Emirates are becoming increasingly concerned with their public image and the suggestion that they may be soft on serious crime is increasingly inimical to the reputation they want to establish in the world.

This has led to an increased confidence in Ireland that one longstanding blemish on the country’s reputation can be tackled.

Tánaiste Micheál Martin said that for “anybody who may be guilty of criminal activity in Ireland or anywhere, into the future, the UAE will not be a safe haven, irrespective of who the people are”. 

Mr Harris appealed to Kinahan cartel members to “consider their own future”, turn themselves in, and to seek the shelter of witness-protection schemes.

There is a global war on organised crime and drugs which partners our police officers, the National Crime Agency, Europol, US federal law enforcement, and British police. 

It is a battle that must be won. The new extradition agreement with the Middle East will be an important foundation for that future.

Cost of clipping public’s wings

How would you define a frequent flyer? One return trip a year? One per month? Long or short haul? 

As an island race, this is a crucial question for everyone in Ireland. 

And you can be certain there are people who are trying to find an answer to what could be one of the most politically sensitive issues of the next decade.

One group of campaigners think they have a workable idea. 

A jet-setter tax on people who fly the most could raise €64bn a year and reduce carbon pollution by 21% according to a report by the London-based New Economics Foundation, in collaboration with the lobby group Stay Grounded.

The clue is in that title. 

The researchers suggest that a levy rising by €100 for every flight after the first return trip would dramatically cut emissions and generate funds to subsidise alternative forms of transport such as bus and rail.

Just over half the yearly benefits would come from the 5% of people who fly the most, while 72% would escape fees by flying once or not at all it is claimed. 

In addition, overall passenger numbers would reduce by 26% within five years.

Let us give credit to those who have attempted to place some maths alongside the arguments. 

However, the chances of those numbers being accepted by an overwhelming majority are, to borrow another environmental phrase, net zero.

Never a cross word

There are many reasons to buy a newspaper, and some of them can be lofty and noble. 

But, in any piece of research, there will always be a section of the readership that offers editors the deflating piece of news that their purchase is for one reason only. 

Because of the crossword.

Woe betide the editor whose staff choose the wrong grid or clues, or a previously published puzzle. 

They can do little to mollify aggrieved customers who will declare their day ruined by the disturbance of routine.

It has been this way for nearly a century. 

Although the crossword made its first appearance in The New York World in 1913 after the concept was devised by Liverpool-born Arthur Wynne, its debut in a mass market newspaper on this side of the Atlantic was on November 2, 1924, when the Sunday Express took up the format and promoted it heavily.

No publication would regard itself as complete without its own distinctive versions — quick, cryptic, genius — and the mythology they have spawned can be captivating. 

Famously, the Daily Telegraph sent the planners of the D-Day invasion of Europe into a tailspin when its compiler included the words Juno, Gold, Sword, Utah, and Omaha, — the five designated Allied landing beaches in Normandy — among his clues in the days before June 6, 1944.

Technocrats might like to assume old analogue brainteasers would lose their potency in the digital age, but the humble crossword was quick to make the transition. 

And then use technology to transmute into new forms. 

Perhaps the most famous of those is Wordle, invented by a Brooklyn software engineer called Josh Wardle who devised it originally as a guessing game for his partner.

For those unfamiliar with its devilish, low frills, but compelling challenge, it involves one word, five letters, and six tries. 

Tens of millions of people cannot conceive of starting their day without conquering it. Or not.

It’s unlikely Wynne could have conceived of the lasting impact when he devised the structure of his brainteaser. 

But for keeping generations fascinated with words, we owe him a huge debt of gratitude.