Ms Áine Ní Chonaill:

We indicated in our opening statement that some people who are technically illegal immigrants have fallen out of the system through no fault of their own. Perhaps their employers had assured them they had obtained or renewed a work permit but had not done so. We do not object to the scheme mentioned in paragraph 8 of the statement in regard to these people.

Ministers replying in the Dáil to calls for regularisation have said that any illegal immigrant may approach the authorities and ask for their case to be considered if they feel they have special circumstances. They may then be treated as special cases or they may be deported.

I am very interested in the Senator's reference to trafficking. I heard an expert speaking on "Six One News" after a conference on the subject, who said there was great confusion about trafficking. Almost everybody who is eventually considered as trafficked began as somebody who had themselves knowingly smuggled. They did not know the terrible things that were to ensue. Trafficking is enslavement. If people are trafficked onto our territory it is our duty to remove them from that state of enslavement. Once they are removed from their enslaver, who would hopefully then be severely punished, they revert to being no longer a victim but a perpetrator. We rescue them from their enslaver but then they are back to where they were, namely, an illegal immigrant. The answer to the question is "Yes, it is proper to deport them."