Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

There is a long stretch between dealing with reform of the laws relating to prostitution and visas for students. As the Deputy knows, we are engaged in a consultative process on the report we published last June. We passed the report on to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality and it is engaged on that. I understand it either has held or will hold hearings on that report and that submissions have been sought.

On the issue of trafficking, I do not have statistics to hand with regard to individuals trafficked to Ireland for the purpose of prostitution who have come here on a student visa. Some of those who are alleged to have been trafficked to Ireland have denied to gardaí, when they have become engaged in the matter, that they have been trafficked to Ireland and have asserted they are here independently engaging in the form of work the Deputy described. Of course, some of the individuals who make that assertion do so out of fear, because of the individuals hidden in the background. We are very conscious of that.

Some of those who come here and engage in that activity come from outside the European Economic Area, but not all and some of those who arrive in this State and engage in prostitution are independent contractors who are not trafficked at all. There seems to be a tendency for a certain number of people to arrive on weekends of rugby internationals and then fly out when the internationals are over. This is a complex area, but I do not wish to minimise the level of concern about it. However, I am not sure we will ever have accurate statistics which indicate individuals who come here on student visas who engage in prostitution or which will indicate those on similar visas who have been trafficked here under pressure as opposed to travelling here voluntarily.

Nevertheless, as the Deputy knows, we are very serious about reviewing our laws on prostitution. I anticipate and look forward to the response of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality. We had a very full and interesting one-day seminar two Saturdays ago at which there was full participation from those in the audience and at which some very interesting papers were delivered on the issue. The Deputy was unable to be there, but I urge him to read some of the papers presented.

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