Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

As the Deputy will appreciate, a trafficking Bill is being prepared in the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform. I do not want there to be all sorts of unforeseen sentencing consequences if I designate something to be a trafficking offence under that Bill. It is quite possible that a person from sub-Saharan Africa, for example, could be caught twice committing the reprehensible offence of trafficking children by bringing them to this country illegally. Such behaviour might not have any gangland connotations — it might not involve anything more than a little racket being run by a person on his or her own. I decided to proceed in this manner on foot of the consensus in this House that I should narrow the terms of Schedule 2 to ensure that it relates strictly to gangland activity. Having considered all aspects of this issue, I am of the view that the Schedule would be improved and made more coherent by the removal of offences which could be perpetrated by a gang but which are not indicative of a gang. That is really what we are aiming at. Therefore, I propose in these amendments to narrow the scope of Schedule 2 and to add a safety valve to provide that a court need not follow the guidelines if it regards them as disproportionate. I have heard people citing far-fetched examples of how these provisions could be used unfairly.

See this speech in context