Ciara Conway (Waterford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity, however slim it might be, to contribute to the debate. As the Minister said, this Bill is largely technical in nature but it offers an opportunity to open up the discussion on some of the functions that will come under Europol and to learn a little more about what it does as, thankfully, it is not something we hear about in our everyday lives. That is because it is largely an intelligence sharing operation but intelligence sharing is becoming increasingly important in combating the crimes that have been outlined by previous speakers such as organised crime, drug dealing and in particular human trafficking.

I am a member of the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly and we are currently working on a cross-parliamentary basis on a report examining the area of human trafficking and have taken evidence in London and Wales and we will do so in Scotland and then in Dublin to gather information and collate the experiences of what the different parliaments are doing to try to counter the horrific crime of human trafficking that is becoming increasingly prevalent. The Minister might indulge me by reading that report when it is finally published.

I draw the attention of the House to a recently published report commissioned by UCC and the Children's Rights Alliance. It examines the problem of child trafficking in particular and the alarming increase in the number of such cases. The report shows that many children in the asylum process were disappearing before 2010 because they were living in hostels, but I am very glad to say that practice has now changed. Unaccompanied minors were entering the country and being placed in temporary accommodation such as hostels, often with little or no supervision.

These children arrived in the country at the weekend when no out of hours social work service was available. They were delivered to the hostel and then disappeared before someone was back on duty in the hostel the following Monday. There was a loophole in the system and the traffickers exploited children because of it. The children went missing and often were never found again. I am glad the HSE has changed its practices to ensure that does not happen and unaccompanied children for the most part are placed with foster families, which is only right and proper. According to figures released to me by the Minister's office, in 2010, there were 69 cases of alleged human trafficking involving 79 victims, the majority of whom were women. However, there were only five convictions, which is low. It is more alarming that, in 2011, six separated young people or unaccompanied minors who were seeking asylum were reported missing and they are still missing. Anything we can sign up in the context of Europol and sharing of information to combat such crimes would be significant and beneficial to the State, which wishes to ensure people are safe and well looked after.

Trafficking at all levels and of people of any age is a major problem but I am worried about the statistics relating to children disappearing from care and I am glad this has been highlighted in the new Children's Rights Alliance publication in conjunction with UCC. Given the low number of convictions, there is a risk of these children being exploited for pornographic purposes. These are the most horrific crimes imaginable.

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