Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fine Gael)

I move amendment No. 19:

In page 10, between lines 2 and 3, to insert the following:

"12.—A person who is a victim of an offence under section 3 or 5, or section 3 (other than subsections (2A) and (2B)) of the Act of 1998, shall not be liable to prosecution for entry into the State or for their presence within the State where such entry and/or presence was caused by an offence under this Act.".

We discussed this amendment on Committee Stage. The idea is that we do not want to criminalise the victim of trafficking. In fact, with the proposed legislation on immigration, this compounds the problem I highlighted on Committee Stage. I gave the example of the woman in Sligo who was a victim of trafficking and who ended up being transported to prison in Mountjoy. She could have been liable to prosecution under the Immigration Acts for being illegally resident in the country and could subsequently have been deported from the country.

The Minister is now planning to get rid of deportation orders altogether in the new Bill. The individual can now be deported straight away instead of being imprisoned for being illegally resident here. That has made the situation even worse. Whatever about my argument on Committee Stage, the Minister has strengthened my argument with the draft that he has put forward for the immigration Bill. There is no flexibility in it once the person is resident in the country. If somebody does not have knowledge of the English language or even a basic comprehension of the Bill, it is very hard for that person to inform a garda that he or she has been trafficked and to come under the protection to which the Minister referred earlier. If the person is residing in the country and does not have proper papers, then that person can be automatically deported from this jurisdiction.

It is vital that people cannot be prosecuted for their presence in the country when they have been trafficked. Such a protection should be put into this Bill.

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