Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

First, I offer a sincere thanks to those who took part in this debate. I understand the lateness of the debate and the continued pushing back of its time made it difficult for some to stay who wanted to speak. I thank them for the calls to my office in support of the Bill, but I offer special thanks to those who persevered to speak and to those who stayed in the Gallery.

With this Bill, Ireland would have an opportunity for another first, such as the plastic bag levy and the smoking ban. Let us look at the realities behind this Bill, one of which is the increase in the number of child sex tourism hot spots with easy access to children. There is the reality of impunity for abusers in those countries. There is the reality of the conditions that drive children into the sex industry, some of whom are sold by their families. These conditions include extreme poverty, unemployment, the lack of access to education and conflict situations.

There is also the reality of the sexual exploitation of children. It can be invisible and it is certainly mobile. It is global in both the developed and developing world. It is escalating because there is a marked increase in preferences for children. It is also highly profitable and is facilitated also by easier and cheaper access to travel throughout the world.

This is an opportunity to set a benchmark to protect children from serious harm. It is about protecting children from a person outside this State doing an act which, if it was committed here, would constitute a sexual offence by one who has been released into the community after committing such an offence here.

The abusers are paedophiles, preferential child sex abusers, situational customers, local prostitute users, tourists, travelling businessmen and some women, migrant foreign workers and the military. It is reckoned that the issues in the Philippines began with the presence of the US military way back. It led to an increase in the number of bars and brothels and an increase in prostitution. The Bill is about empowering judges to impose travel limitations at the time of sentencing or not if the judge is satisfied that there is or is not a risk of offending abroad. It is proportionate and it is also conditional. For example, leave can be granted to attend a funeral in the UK for a couple of days but alarm bells would ring if there was a request to go for three weeks to Thailand or the Philippines. I stress the narrow remit of the Bill.

We say the rights of children are a priority for Ireland. It is certainly outlined in our foreign policy. It is also part of the Irish Aid document, One World, One Future. Ireland has provided funding for End Child Prostitution and Trafficking International, ECPAT International. In 2016 we gave it a grant for three years for a project in Thailand combatting child sexual exploitation. This Bill is a chance to go even further and not just give money. It is an opportunity to do something significant and radical and something that will make a difference in children's lives.

When it came to the amendment, I was struck by the Minister's optimism that we will be here in 12 months' time so the work will be done within that timeframe. I thought about it and decided to take all the positives from the Minister's speech. I decided that accepting the amendment is a better way to progress the Bill. We also have to acknowledge the backlog of work for the justice committee. I will accept the Minister's word and I hope we can work on a shorter timeframe or at least a commitment from Fine Gael that if it is back in Government the Bill will not get lost but will be a priority to be progressed. We owe it to those in those countries. The poverty in those countries is related to our developed world, in particular to those countries that carved up South-East Asia, Latin America, South America and Africa for their empires. It is also related to the continued economic, financial and tax policies of the developed world.

I am all for working together. I heard the Minister speak about the balancing of rights. As we are debating this here tonight there are children and young people, boys and girls, who are being sexually exploited, sexually abused and raped in poor countries by men and some women from our world. It is time to ensure the rights of children to their childhood. If European countries can prevent football hooligans from travelling to matches, surely we can do more to save children from convicted sex offenders because the lives of children are more important. There is a right to travel but how can we possibly agree with the right to travel to abuse, hurt and sexually exploit children. That is what I have been trying to do in this Bill. I hope we can see progress on it before 12 months or before the Dáil finishes.

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