Lucinda Creighton (Dublin South East, Fine Gael)

All of the facilities and services available to the State need to be invested in meeting and supporting their needs. It is a tragedy that this directive has not been implemented. The date for implementation was 6 August 2006 and we have already exceeded this period by a full year. This exposes the State to potential litigation from a person who falls victim to human trafficking and is not given the protection which the State is mandated to provide under not alone EU legislation but the UN protocol. An enormous amount of international and European weight is being given to this issue which appears to have been ignored to date by the Government. I urge the Government to consider including this provision in the Bill before the House or to accelerate the process for the immigration Bill.

This issue is timely in light of the arrest today under a European arrest warrant of a person party to a major international child trafficking ring. The individual will be brought before the High Court next week for an extradition order. I would like to see greater co-operation between the Irish police and its EU counterparts. I know an agreement exists between the UK and Irish police but this needs to be extended. It is a pity Ireland has opted out of the justice and home affairs element of the European reform treaty as this would have provided a wonderful opportunity to further integrate, resource and equip the Garda Síochána with the intelligence and knowledge available to its EU counterparts. This issue needs to be re-examined. Perhaps the Government would examine further ways of ensuring integration and co-operation with police forces across EU member states.

It is hoped the people suffering at the hands of vicious and greedy perpetrators will be borne in mind in terms of how this legislation is implemented, developed and enhanced in the future. It is easy to dismiss people brought into this country illegally and traumatised, victimised and used as human slaves. These people do not have a voice. An opportunity exists today to try to give them that voice. I hope that in the course of this debate and the debate on the immigration Bill, the concerns and issues that have affected such victims in the past and will affect them in the future will be aired. I conclude by stressing the need to take into account the vital importance of protection of victims as this legislation proceeds.

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