Patrick Costello (Dublin South Central, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I will start with some general comments for the benefit of the report on the subject at the end. I will then invite anyone who wishes to respond to comment. I may then have some specific questions.

Some of these have been raised by our guests already but I want to set out my view on this so we can ensure it is covered in the report on the legislation.

One of the issues is the lack of a special process for children and child victims of trafficking. This was raised. Tusla raised it in its written submission to us. The Ombudsman for Children's office has raised it with me. That is definitely something we need to look at. I am concerned there is no scope for appeal in this legislation, which I think was raised as well. Any sort of administrative process like this must have a fair process of appeal. It would be useful if our friends from the Department of Justice could clarify some of the decision-making process because the Bill presents it as collective decision making, though I do not have it in front of me. We have already seen a great difficulty in victims of trafficking getting recognised as victims of trafficking. If one particular agency is essentially to have a veto over that, the same situation will continue no matter how many competent authorities or trusted others are sitting around the table. That kind of process must be explored.

On the definitions, there is no real reference to things like the Delphi criteria or the Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings, GRETA, criteria. They are actually wider than what is in the legislation. If our aim is to capture as many potential victims as possible, we should be drawing our criteria and definitions as widely as possible. I would welcome some input on that from the experts before us.

The lack of supports in this legislation has been raised. The recent Scottish legislation requires a very detailed level of supports to be provided by the state once someone is recognised as a victim of trafficking. Our legislation could be much stronger in those terms. Another thing I am conscious of and would welcome our experts' views on is that the Bill as written involves the victims of trafficking coming to a trusted partner or competent authority. Ms Toolan was talking about the difficulties with people who are scared to come forward. If we look at our domestic violence and gender-based violence legislation, there is scope in there for, say, a social worker to apply for a protection order or barring order. That acknowledges the difficulty victims sometimes have in seeking protection. There is nothing in here. The person must make the referral themselves instead of an agency or trusted partner being able to begin that process themselves. The lack of timelines has been raised and I underline that. I will come back to that piece as it is a slight tangent.

Another issue is the list of competent authorities. We have several submissions asking whether the Department of Social Protection should be in there, for example. Many submissions are suggesting others, including the Marine Survey Office, the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC, and the Minister for Transport, given the well-documented role the fishing industry has played in human trafficking. Why are they not competent authorities? I am concerned that if we were to take every competent authority suggested in the submissions, it would be a very long list. Then we are adding in trusted partners, which should also in a way be a long list, but the legislation as it stands says all the competent authorities and trusted partners should meet together. If we have 30 people trying to make a decision, how is that going to work? In a way there is a balancing exercise between trying to cast this as wide as possible while remaining functional. If our guests could speak to that, it would be very useful.

As a tangent, many of the functions performed by the Marine Survey Office should probably be transferred to the WRC because it is the body that can inspect vessels. We need to be conscious in relation to trafficking charges and prosecutions of those who are doing the trafficking. However, that is a tangent and I am conscious of time, and I have taken up most of it. I ask the experts to address the issue around the competent authorities. I would love to hear more about the collective decision making if our friends from the Department can enlighten us on that. Then there is the matter of the correct criteria to use. Should we be making references to the Delphi indicators or criteria or even just ensuring what is on that list is in this legislation, even if we are not naming them as those criteria? There is a minute left.