Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

I join with his Fine Gael colleagues in complimenting Deputy Naughten on his tenacity and responsibility in bringing this matter regularly to the attention of the political system. It is to the credit of everybody in the House when politicians act in this responsible manner.

I want, first of all, to replace some of the assertions being made in the House over the past two days with some factual content about this issue. Deputy Costello alleged Garda inaction on brothels and massage parlours and this was repeated earlier on this evening. I just want to put on the record of the House the comments of the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy Dermot Ahern last night, who informed the Dáil that, for example, on 2 and 6 November two searches were carried out in Dublin as regards massage parlours. In both incidents two females were found on the property. There was a connection between the females and Irish nationals. However, no evidence of human trafficking was disclosed.

It is also wrong to assert Government inaction in this area and again I want to put on the record the fact that the Government, over the last 18 months in particular, has taken a strident line in this regard - more so than some of our EU colleagues. On the point made by Opposition Deputies that Ireland has been identified as a target for the human trafficking of children and adults, for sexual exploitation, labour and other nefarious purposes, the Government, for that reason has very much upped the ante, in terms of a national action plan. There is the anti-human trafficking unit in the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform and the anti-human trafficking unit in the Garda as well as the Criminal Justice (Human Trafficking) Act 2008, which provides life imprisonment for some of the offences set out in the legislation. Again, that is in advance of some other EU sentencing norms in this area. While I absolutely concede there is a problem in this area and admit we can have no cause for complacency or sitting back as regards a legislative system designed to deal with these issues, I believe the Government, the Garda and indeed the HSE are entitled to some credit for the progress they have made in the last while.

Some comment has been made as regards children and I want to deal with that as well. Under the implementation plan published by the Government following the Ryan report, we committed to ensuring that HIQA would carry out the inspections required under the regulations of private and voluntary residential centres from 2010. This is a significant departure, and already two hostels for unaccompanied minors seeking asylum have been closed, and properly so. We wish to ensure that the others are closed as well. It should be noted that unaccompanied children under 12 are not placed in residential care, rather in foster care. It must also be noted that the HSE, as the responsible authority, does not have the powers to place these children in detention or put them under lock and key in any way. Many of the high number of incidents of missing children are attributed internationally, among all our EU colleagues, to family reunification. This needs to be put in context. I do not mean to suggest that human trafficking is not an issue. It is a very serious issue, but we cannot extrapolate from the missing children figures a corresponding statistic as regards child trafficking for sexual exploitation or labour. These exist, and I do not deny it for a moment.

It is important, too, to note that this year the HSE and the Garda published a joint protocol as regards how they will deal with the issue of missing children. This is perhaps beginning to bear fruit. Certainly, in October 2009 no child went missing from HSE care. I do not say that as a proud boast. It should, of course, be the norm, a given, but nonetheless that is the case and it may well be attributable to the higher state of awareness surrounding this issue. Again, I compliment Deputy Naughten on his role in ensuring this.

The Minister, Deputy Dermot Ahern, pointed out last night that the Government has taken a firm stand against human trafficking. He said the State is working as diligently as possible in this area. Finally, in response to Deputy Breen's question on the issue of ratification of the Council of Europe Convention, I can inform the House this instrument will be ratified in early 2010. I commend the Government amendment to the House.

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