Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

The Bill relates to slavery. Trafficking people for the purpose of exploitation used to be called slavery — that was its definition. I am sure many people who have not thought about this subject or who live in the kind of environment or social setting in which they never encounter it will be shocked to learn that the Criminal Law (Human Trafficking) Bill 2007 is designed to combat what is, in effect, a modern version of slavery. If people are of the opinion that slavery was a phenomenon that ended in the 19th century, all they need do is read this morning's news headlines relating to the story to which Deputy Naughten referred regarding an international ring engaged in the business of selling young women into sexual slavery being busted. We know that the women concerned, some of them girls in their teens, are being sold into sexual slavery as a result of their vulnerability, the circumstances that obtain in their countries of origin or the simple fact that they want to make better lives for themselves. Some young people who attempt to flee poverty or oppression or simply want to improve the conditions in which they live fall into the clutches of the lowest form of criminals, namely, those who are prepared to grow wealthy from trafficking these individuals into prostitution.

Ireland is not blameless in this regard. Those who hanker after the image of the island of saints and scholars must be aware that the latter is not the reality which obtains today. The Minister's contribution was interesting in that regard. In it, he dealt with a great deal more than is contained in the Bill. He was at pains to indicate that the legislation was merely an attempt to deal with this issue from the point of view of the criminal law and that it did not purport to do more than this. However, he set out to do a good deal more. He has described the issue we are addressing and outlined its frightening scale, instanced the international instruments that obtain in this area, most of which we have not ratified, and indicated the steps he intends to take to enable us to ratify them outside the context of the Bill. Ireland is naked in the context of its preparedness to combat this phenomenon in so far as it touches upon our jurisdiction. There seems to be no doubt but that it does do so.

Young women are being trafficked into Ireland for the purposes of prostitution. Some of them are also being trafficked here for the purposes of forced labour. I do not call the circumstances relating to domestic service that have been described to me in connection with a couple of cases as anything other than forced labour. I refer to young women who find themselves in domestic settings where they are grossly exploited in terms of working hours, conditions, etc. I do not, however, make any moral equivalence between cases of that nature and the main thrust of the Bill, which is to deal with the matter of criminal trafficking for exploitation purposes. I accept that the selling of young women into the sex industry is a matter of an entirely different character.

As I understand it, the nature of prostitution in Ireland has changed dramatically in the past 20 years. Organisations and experts working with women who find themselves in these circumstances have indicated that the position has changed dramatically during that time. Up to 20 years ago, the majority of women who walked the streets operated for themselves or even if they owed allegiance to pimps — surely the lowest form of life — their activities were not connected to international crime. Where they did work for pimps, there were usually no connections to the network of global crime. At the time to which I refer brothels in this country were an exception and it would have been extremely rare to encounter non-national women in the industry.

Deputy Naughten referred to the work being done by organisations in this area, particularly Ruhama which works directly with women trapped in the sex industry. Ruhama believes the sex industry has become highly organised in recent years and is linked to the global crime network. The Minister's remarks seem to bear out that assertion. He describes the nature of this abhorrent criminality and the scale of the industry. It will be mind-blowing for most law-abiding citizens to learn that, as the Minister stated:

The United Nations and other experts estimate the total market value of illicit human trafficking at $32 billion, and of this an estimated $10 billion is derived from the initial sale of individuals, with the remainder representing the estimated profits from the activities or goods produced by victims of this barbaric crime.

That is a shocking indictment of the scale of this international criminality. The Minister also stated:

The office to monitor and combat trafficking in persons at the State Department in Washington estimates that 800,000 people are trafficked worldwide each year. International experts estimate that some 2.5 million people throughout the world are at any given time recruited, entrapped, transported and exploited. This is abuse on a horrific scale and surely calls on the international community to effectively organise itself in the attempt to combat this criminality.

I spoke about the domestic sex industry and how it has changed in recent years. Of course, information technology is a major contributing factor in that new methods of communication have replaced street walking, as was the traditional way of making contact with clients. Mobile phones, not to mention Internet advertising, make it easier for pimps and procurers to operate and exploit the young women over whom they have control.

What was always, by definition, a very secretive industry has become largely invisible to the busy, law-abiding citizen going about his or her business in this city and other cities and towns throughout the country. It is now virtually invisible, which is why I wonder about the statistics advanced by the Minister. I know that when he quoted the figure of 76 women believed to have been trafficked in recent years, he was referring to the research by Dr. Eilís Ward from the Department of Political Science and Sociology in the National University of Ireland, Galway, and Dr. Gillian Wylie from the Irish School of Ecumenics in Trinity College. This research only came into my possession today.

The Minister is accurately quoting from this research because that is what it says in its findings. However, that figure is contested by, for example, Ruhama, which speaks about directly knowing 200 women in these circumstances and having assisted a good proportion of them. Ruhama says that the 101 odd women with whom it has been in contact and who found themselves in these circumstances say that they know five or six other women in similar circumstances. There is some basis for believing that this is only the tip of the iceberg and that because of the invisibility of the sex industry, it is probable that the figures are more serious than those quoted in the research by the two academics referred to by me.

Ruhama, which works with people afflicted in these circumstances, admits that it is a small-scale agency which is not particularly well resourced. It probably cannot meet the expectation that it penetrate every murky corner of this sordid business. The problem is probably more serious than the figures used today suggest.

We know that most of the women being trafficked are very young, often in their late teens, and that they operate from brothels and private apartments in this city and elsewhere throughout the country. It is fair to say that people and organisations working with the victims of this international crime are broadly welcoming of the Bill introduced to the House today. I join in that welcome and am glad to see the Bill being brought forward. However, everybody who has studied the phenomenon says that one cannot deal with it through the criminal law alone and that this will not meet our obligations under the international instruments or provide the redress that might be expected in a civilised jurisdiction for the young women who find themselves in the grasp of this industry.

The Minister seemed to acknowledge that in his address to the House today. While I welcome the fact that the Minister has gone out of his way to put a comprehensive description of what we are dealing with on the record of the House and to set out a number of measures that he intends to take, it must be said that the area we are addressing is relatively narrow and many people attempting to assist women trapped in this industry will be less than satisfied unless the Minister can give us a commitment that the various matters outside the Bill addressed by him will be brought forward within a reasonable timeframe.

The Minister said it is intended 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. What kind of framework is contemplated by him? Does it have a statutory basis? Is it purely a charter of best practice or will it be underpinned by legislation? Many people outside this House want answers to questions like that.

The Minister has given undertakings that some of the critical matters not dealt with in the Bill will otherwise be legislated for. Committee Stage will give us an opportunity to test that. It is not entirely clear from the Minister's script how soon we are likely to see such measures and I am not persuaded that the protection of the victim ought to be the subject of another Bill. Why should these issues be dealt with in the promised immigration and residence Bill? This is not an aspect of immigration under any conventional definition of that word. It is an entirely different issue concerning the exploitation of young, vulnerable girls who are trafficked across the world, some of them into this jurisdiction. The organisations say that any legislation to effectively deal with this must be victim centred and that we ought to address this key issue in this Bill.

The Minister concedes that the passing of this Bill will not enable us to ratify, for example, the UN protocol or the parent convention against transnational organised crime. If one looks at the standards set in the Council of Europe trafficking convention, one can see that this cannot be ratified by the Government until the immigration and residence Bill is enacted. We are not coming to this legislation with a great track record. If the work has been done in preparing what, at first glance, seems to be a reasonably comprehensive Bill to deal with the criminal law dimension of this issue, the opportunity is being passed up to take the holistic approach that the Minister argues for in his script but which is not present in the legislation before the House.

The Bill, for example, does not deal with the protection of victims, nor does it incorporate the standards set down by the Council of Europe convention. I am assured by expert opinion that law enforcement can only be effective in this area if there is adequate protection of victims. There needs to be provision for a period of recovery and reflection. As Members will be aware, under that convention, 30 days is the recommendation. Access to temporary residence permits of up to six months is deemed to be necessary. There is a requirement to recognise that repatriation in those circumstances ought to be voluntary. The availability of legal aid ought to be specified.

I appreciate that we will get an opportunity on Committee Stage to tease out some of these issues but it is difficult to deal with them when the Department and the Minister seem to have set their faces against anything other than a criminal law solution in this Bill. Despite paying lip service in the text to the need for a more holistic approach and given that all the expert opinion and advice of organisations working with women who find themselves entrapped and enslaved in this sordid industry is to take that holistic approach, the Minister and the Department seem to have set their faces against that. That is regrettable.

When the Minister replies to the debate in respect of the high level group he promised to establish, will he indicate whether it is intended that some of the people who have distinguished themselves in bringing this issue to political attention will be included among the membership of that high level group? I note the array of experts who will be called on but other than that there will be consultation with the NGOs I do not see a commitment that there will be NGO representation on that high level group. That is a pity because the experience of the streets must be brought to the solutions in regard to this horrific industry.

I welcome the fact that the Bill goes out of its way to seek to protect the anonymity of the victim and that is positive. Returning to the idea of a criminal law solution only, how many loopholes will be discovered because we do not make any provision in the Bill for soliciting or purchase of a service? It is very possible that a defence can be mounted on the basis that there is no specific offence here of soliciting or purchasing a service. What is the Minister's intention in that regard?

Deputy Naughten raised the example of the Sligo case where a young woman ended up in Mountjoy in any event. It seems horrific that in a civilised jurisdiction somebody found to be enslaved in this trade can end up in Mountjoy or can be subject to deportation. Surely such circumstances ought to be provided for. The Bill, as it stands, does nothing to address the fact that those who are trafficked can still be jailed or deported. That ought to be provided for in the Bill. There is an excuse for victims of trafficking to be exempt from criminal liability in circumstances where the perceived offence, regardless of its nature, is derived from their original condition of having been enslaved in this industry. Otherwise, the notion that the State goes to the rescue of a young woman who finds herself in these circumstances, so that she ends up in Mountjoy, seems to defeat the purpose of what we are seeking to do here.

A number of recommendations are made in the research by the two academics to which I referred. There are 12 brief recommendations in the document. I would be interested to hear whether the Minister intends to take any of them on board. For example, on the issue of whether the problem exists in Ireland and, if it does, what is the scale of it and how many young women are imported here from abroad, imprisoned in Ireland or enslaved to the sex industry, this report recommends that research be funded to provide a comprehensive mapping and analysis of the Irish sex industry to include issues of the relationship between policing, sentencing, policy and user groups to fill a gap in knowledge about the context within which sex trafficking occurs. The authors recommend that comparative research should be undertaken to explore which models of service provision constitute best practice and which legislative approaches towards prostitution are most effective in combating sex trafficking throughout Europe.

They further recommend that the State should provide increased resources to each agency currently providing services to trafficked women to ensure better provision and to secure the rights of trafficked women and that consideration should be given as to whether a service dedicated solely to trafficking victims is required in the Irish context. It seems that we require more research. The State ought to be as helpful as it can to agencies struggling to cope with this issue.

We can only imagine the degradation inflicted on young girls who find themselves, through no fault of their own, in the circumstances described in some of the research I have read.

It is regrettable that we are coming to deal with this issue so late in the day, but better late than never. Now that we are dealing with it, we ought to deal with it in the holistic way recommended by the experts, to which the Minister seems to pay lip service in his speech. If he is to give effect to that approach, some of the issues he said are for another day when we deal with the immigration and residence Bill is not the correct way to deal with this issue. This is a Bill about trafficking and we should deal with that issue in a holistic fashion and take on board the advice of some of the people who work with this problem and who have brought it to the level that it is a political issue that can no longer be ignored in this House.

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