Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fine Gael)

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this legislation. Although it has been a long time in coming it is a positive development and I warmly welcome it.

Last March saw the 200th anniversary of the end of the transatlantic slave trade. While the obvious trade may have been abolished two centuries ago, underground modern slave trading is being practised today in almost every country. The slave trade is now known as human trafficking and ranks with drugs and arms trafficking as one of the most lucrative criminal activities. It is estimated that €6,400 million per annum is generated in the initial trade itself.

The sole purpose of the practice is exploitation and abuse. The majority of persons who find themselves being trafficked are destined for the sex industry where they are forced into prostitution. Some are even trafficked to supply human organs. It is estimated that between 700,000 and 4 million women and children are moved across international borders each year. According to the United States State Department office to monitor trafficking in persons, 80% of those trafficked are women and girls and up to 50% are children, many of whom are forced into prostitution. Almost every city, town and village in eastern and central Europe has had some of its girls and women disappear and trafficked abroad for use and abuse. They have become pawns in the business of money and sex. Human trafficking is a growing problem within the EU, with more than 100,000 people trafficked across borders each year. Since 2004, as many as 330 children are known to have been trafficked into the United Kingdom through various routes, but experts feel this is only the tip of the iceberg. This is a growing business and Ireland is a target country.

Human trafficking is not merely a matter of numbers. It is about human beings, including children, being subjected to unspeakable perversion daily. Victims of trafficking suffer physical, sexual and psychological trauma. Frequently, they contract sexually transmitted diseases, having been forced into the sex industry. We must add to this rape, physical assault, nightmares, insomnia, suicidal tendencies, substance abuse and even suicide and murder.

While this may be a relatively new phenomenon in Ireland, the practice of trafficking first came to public consciousness with the tragic events in Wexford and Waterford in December 2001, which culminated in the death of eight people trapped inside a freight container. Two centuries ago, there were slave ships but then, at least, everyone knew what those slave ships were and what they were doing. Now, trafficking is much more covert. A trafficked child could be sitting next to one on a commercial ferry crossing or flight and one would have absolutely no idea.

Ruhama is an organisation that provides support services to women involved in prostitution and other forms of commercial exploitation. The vast majority of the 132 women it had helped up to the end of 2006 came from eastern European countries such as Albania and Romania. Other regions of origin include South America, Asia and Africa, where one fifth of those being trafficked originate. The International Organisation for Migration has assisted women victims of trafficking, including children, to return voluntarily from Ireland to their countries of origin, including Romania, Moldova, Croatia, Brazil, Nigeria, Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

It is reasonable to assume that many more times this number of trafficked women have entered the country. The difficulty is that they are largely invisible. They are kept behind closed doors in apartments, brothels and massage parlours. It is impossible to put an accurate figure on this illegal trade as victims often remain unseen and the criminal gangs who operate as traffickers use coercive tactics, such as constantly moving women around the country, threats or actual physical violence and threats of deportation. Early this month it was reported that the Garda is investigating a number of cases of forced marriage involving migrant children as young as 12 years. The young girls were, typically, trafficked into the country and coerced into marrying older men from migrant communities.

Ireland has also been pinpointed as a major route for trafficking children, doomed to a life of slavery or prostitution in Britain. Traffickers will always find the weakest link and reports have highlighted the fact that in Ireland they have discovered one of the easiest ways to the United Kingdom. A recent BBC documentary interviewed a trafficker who admitted smuggling children through Rosslare into the United Kingdom. It is not only the UK media who have exposed this issue in Ireland. Last year, our own "Prime Time" highlighted evidence of young people being illegally trafficked into the country and forced to work in the sex industry, suffering serious physical and sexual abuse.

To date, neither the Illegal Immigrants (Trafficking) Act 2000 nor the Child Trafficking and Pornography Act 1998 have resulted in a successful prosecution for the crime of trafficking, although individuals have been arrested and charged. This is in contrast with other countries which have had successful prosecutions. The problem lies with the present legislative code which is not strong enough to facilitate successful convictions. Therefore, this legislation is very welcome and a positive step forward as it will, for the first time, impose strict penalties upon those involved in the recruitment, transportation and harbouring of people where coercion or force are involved, particularly for the purposes of labour or sexual exploitation.

Human trafficking is not only an issue of organised crime. We must take into full account the vulnerability of the victims. The structures must be in place to ensure that the Garda act with sensitivity and recognise them as victims and not just as witnesses to crime. At present there is no clear policy or guidelines as to what happens to women who have been identified as having been trafficked for sex. A purely criminal law response will not deal with the issue of human trafficking and we must address the issue of victim protection and assistance.

The Minister stated that the Bill will "enable the State to comply with the relevant victim protection provisions in the Council of Europe Convention". However, he failed adequately to address the fact that the convention is very comprehensive on protection provisions and explicitly stipulates that many of the provisions for protection are not only necessary but mandatory. This fundamental issue is completely ignored in the legislation. The Minister also stated that, in the context of the treatment of victims, it is his intention that a framework will be put in place whereby a victim of trafficking can be afforded an immediate period of recovery and reflection in the State and also in circumstances where he or she wishes to participate in any criminal proceedings. What does this mean? A framework does not have any legal basis. At present, protection of victims is ad hoc, sometimes offered by non-governmental organisations and sometimes by the Garda National Immigration Bureau on a case by case basis. There is, however, no co-ordinated multi-agency response to assist victims of trafficking.

Last week's report by NUI Galway highlighted one case of a woman who was found by gardaí in a private brothel in Sligo. She was believed to have been trafficked and was brought to Mountjoy jail. She was the one criminalised. The Bill is silent on this fundamental issue. There is a very real danger that the Bill will criminalise the victims unless clear protections are included in the Act. For the first time, the Government is being tested on its commitment to integration. I welcome the appointment of a Minister of State with responsibility for integration. However, the Bill includes nothing to deal with the issues of victims or integration. The Government has failed its first test.

This is important if the public is to support the sympathetic treatment of victims of trafficking but also for the victims themselves, whose self-esteem is low enough without being branded as freeloaders, so that their claims are taken seriously. By adopting a sensible and practical application of a temporary residency system with clear qualifying criteria, abuse of such a system should not follow. Without these protections clearly and expressly enshrined in the Bill for victims, they will not come forward to the Garda authorities. This is fundamental to securing convictions against those directly involved in this trade.

Even without the possibility of successful prosecutions, the NUI Galway report found that of the 76 women who had been trafficked into Ireland for the purposes of sexual exploitation between 2000 and 2006, 36 had no recent contact with support agencies, 12 remained in the asylum system and ten were granted leave to stay in Ireland or were given refugee status. It is imperative that these victims are not viewed as illegal immigrants who should be sent home as soon as prosecutions are secured. If the Government does this, it will further exploit these people. While permanent residency in this country cannot and should not be guaranteed because it would seriously compromise any successful prosecution, a balance must be struck.

First, they must be recognised as victims who need our support and assistance. It should be remembered our citizens have created the demand for this trade in the majority of instances. Second, Ireland has signed up to EU Council Directive 2004/81/EC on granting temporary residence permits to trafficked victims. The objective behind this is to ensure a period of recovery and support before consideration is given to sending that person back to his or her home country. Third, international conventions clearly and unambiguously state trafficking legislation should provide for victim protection measures, not immigration regulation. Fourth, the State should grant immediate humanitarian visas for child victims, in line with a call by UNICEF.

I refer to the gut-wrenching practice of child trafficking and, in particular, the care of victims in this country once they come to the attention of authorities. Correspondence between the HSE and the Department of Health and Children in 2005 stated that the executive, which is responsible for separated children seeking asylum, believed the majority of separated children coming into care had been trafficked into the country. The damning indictment of our present system is that more than 250 separated children had gone missing from HSE accommodation over the previous four years. It must be assumed that some of these children have been trafficked. In a Swedish case study, which illustrates the link between vulnerable separated children and trafficking, a total of 50 Chinese separated children went missing from accommodation centres. However, following the arrest of two Chinese nationals on trafficking charges, no Chinese child has arrived unaccompanied to Sweden.

Earlier radio news bulletins reported on the detection of a child trafficking ring in Holland, which involved 19 arrests of suspected traffickers in Holland, Spain, Belgium, Britain, the US and Ireland. The Garda and other EU police authorities are to be commended on their action regarding this ring. However, these children were sent to Amsterdam with fake documentation and told to apply for asylum. It is clear the asylum process in the European Union is being used as a mechanism of abuse and this issue needs to be addressed. I reiterate UNICEF's comments in this regard. Having applied for asylum, young girls are then moved from care centres in the UK and Sweden — and Ireland, according to anecdotal evidence — and forced into prostitution. They have been found on the streets in France, Italy, Spain and Holland. This is a serious abuse of the rights of children and it must be examined and addressed.

Due to the covert nature of trafficking for prostitution, it is increasingly difficult to make contact with victims, many of whom fear imprisonment or deportation. The Garda is at the coalface in confronting this illegal practice. Its officers are the key group as they are likely to meet the victims of this trade first hand and it is imperative they are given the resources and training to effectively deal with victims. I hope the Minister was not paying lip service to this issue in his contribution and resources are provided for the Garda. Time and again, when the lack of proper equipment and basic training for the Garda is raised, it is passed off that the force has the resources available and it is a matter for the Garda Commissioner. However, resources are not delivered to ensure the best equipped and trained police force.

In tackling trafficking as a crime, the Garda must be equipped with clear and practical laws and resources and, most important, receive comprehensive training informed by the experiences of police in other jurisdictions and by groups working with victims of trafficking in Ireland. Ireland must move from a position where those involved in trafficking are engaged in low risk, high profit crime to one in which they engage in high risk, low profit crime. It must be ensured Ireland and the EU become a harsh environment for traffickers.

Human trafficking, which is the world's third biggest crime after arms and drugs, in turn, fuels other criminal activities such as money laundering, drug trafficking and document forgery. That is why we in Ireland cannot address this issue in isolation. The issue of forged documentation must be dealt with. The media reported yesterday that a new border system will be introduced in this jurisdiction and Britain, which will mean people travelling by air and sea between both jurisdictions will be required to carry passports so that information regarding their travel plans and movements is available to the authorities. However, that will fall flat in on its face similar to the present system because of the use of false Irish passports and driving licences and the poor quality of official documentation, particularly driving licences. Four years ago the then Minister for Transport, Deputy Seamus Brennan, announced he would introduce a watertight system for driving licences but nothing has happened in this regard. Anyone can purchase a false licence for €10 or €15 and it is farcical to think it is a secure form of identification. The Government cannot continue to turn a blind eye to this issue.

Passports issued through the passport office in Dublin are different from those issued by Irish embassies. Those issued by embassies are of an inferior quality and they are open to forgery. With today's technology, I cannot understand why we cannot ensure the same quality of passport issued by the Passport Office in Molesworth Street is issued by our embassies. That is leading to abuse and the forging of documentation.

Also related to forged or false documentation, is the issuing of PPS numbers by the Department of Social and Family Affairs. Officials in the Department do not have the available technology to identify false documentation and they have very poor training in spotting such documentation. We are literally doling out these PPS numbers, which give people access to employment and State services. Why are we allowing such a significant loophole to exist within the Irish system?

The objective behind the introduction of PPS numbers in the first instance was to address the abuse of the social welfare system. By allowing false documentation to be used, we are facilitating the gross legal abuse of our social welfare and other systems in the country. This cannot continue, and the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform has a responsibility to ensure this practice is tackled and eradicated once and for all. It is making a farce of PPS numbers.

Returning to cross-border co-operation, in 2006 a British House of Commons committee report claimed that Northern Ireland is being used as a back door for smuggling migrants into the Republic of Ireland and Britain itself. It is therefore imperative we build on the close co-operation currently existing between the PSNI and the Garda Síochána. To effectively combat human trafficking, authorities must constantly improve their knowledge of what is going on, where it is taking place and how it is proceeding.

We must have a co-ordinated approach, both North-South and east-west. The very nature of international organised crime requires such a response on a transnational level. This type of co-operation will not be helped by the Government's recent decision to opt out of closer co-operation with other EU police forces. Traffickers will be assisted by the exclusion of Ireland from tough new Europe-wide anti-crime measures.

Ireland has a major interest in working with other member states in tackling cross-border crime in the European Union, including the appalling crimes of child and people trafficking, which clearly affects this country.

See this speech in context