Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)

It is fair to say that our legislation on human trafficking is probably the most advanced and modern, as it was only passed in June this year.

As the Deputy will know, when the Immigration Bill was originally published it provided for a 45-day period for recovery and reflection. At the exhortation of the Deputy and others in Opposition, and because of my own feelings on the matter, I agreed it should be a longer period of 60 days. That compares favourably with a number of other EU countries.

As regards what resources and responses are available to people who are subject to human trafficking, an anti-trafficking unit was established in my Department on foot of the legislation. The unit works with State agencies, including the Garda Síochána and the HSE, as well as Ruhama and other groups. I attended one of the regular meetings to witness the co-operation that is going on between all concerned. This ensures that when somebody is the subject of trafficking they are dealt with immediately by an holistic response across the system.

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