Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)

Thursday, 8 March is International Women's Day, the day that women all over the world seek equality and full human rights. It is an appropriate day to seek the introduction of legislation that would ban trafficking in people, as women and children are the principal people who are trafficked, women for sexual exploitation and children for child labour.

It is a shame that Ireland remains the only country in the European Union that has not introduced anti-trafficking legislation. Someone in the House asks about the legislation every month of every year, but we are told the Bill is imminent, is being drafted and will shortly be published. The legislation is the criminal justice (trafficking in persons and sexual offences) Bill. As it has not yet been published, it is unlikely that it can reach the Statute Book this side of an election.

We have not signed up to all the international conventions and treaties seeking to combat trafficking. For example, the Tánaiste stated last month in the Dáil that the Government was only considering signing the Council of Europe's Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings. Likewise, we have not acted on the European Union framework decision on combating trafficking in human beings or the United Nations protocol to prevent trafficking and to punish those involved in it. The issue of victims of trafficking will not be addressed until the Tánaiste's long-promised immigration, residence and protection Bill has been published. That Bill is unlikely to see the light of day before the election.

In the meantime and because of our lax laws, Ireland has become a hub for the trafficking of human beings. Non-governmental organisations and religious groups such as Ruhama have monitored an alarming increase in women and girls being trafficked for exploitation in the sex industry in Ireland. Ireland is being used as a distribution centre for the trafficking industry.

This year marks the 200th anniversary of the abolition of slavery throughout the British Empire. Trafficking in humans is the modern slavery. Men, women and children become objects of exploitation and are deprived of their humanity and freedom. Ireland prides itself on giving support to oppressed and exploited people everywhere, but it is a sad situation that we cannot put in place legislative safeguards to prevent the oppression and exploitation of people who are trafficked into and through our country by traffickers, the modern equivalent of the slave traders of centuries past.

The Government puts emergency legislation through the Dáil every week. Why can it not treat human trafficking as an emergency issue? Every party would support that legislation and would expedite it through the Oireachtas in a matter of days. This is the opportune day to make that commitment.

See this speech in context