Cormac Devlin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I wholeheartedly agree with my colleague, Deputy Jim O'Callaghan, on his remarks on the Bill, including the assumption of the challenges not only facing us here in Ireland but right across Europe. A higher level must be achieved. I thank the Minister of State for his attendance throughout this discussion this afternoon of this important Criminal Justice (Smuggling of Persons) Bill 2021.

I support this Bill, which provides for the implementation of three international legal instruments in the area of people smuggling. These three instruments are aimed at providing an effective international response to the growing problem of people smuggling. Under these instruments, any person who deliberately assists unauthorised entry, transit or residence of a non-EU national in the EU is to be sanctioned unless doing so for humanitarian reasons. It is an important point that the Minister of State made in his opening remarks that there is a safeguard for those who are undertaking that extraordinary work.

As noted, people smuggling differs from human trafficking in that trafficking is carried out for the explicit purpose of exploitation and need not necessarily involve illegal entry into a state. People smuggling is not defined in terms of exploitation but the process of people smuggling typically involves serious exploitation, suffering and a risk of physical harm and death. People smuggling frequently involves the imposition of extortionate fees by smugglers, as we heard, as well as exposing the illegal migrants to severe danger in clandestinely entering states. This was demonstrated by the recent tragedy in Britain where 39 people died in a container in Essex and the Wexford tragedy of December 2001, which happened in the Minister of State's constituency. Those images haunt everybody and serve to highlight the challenges faced by those individuals. As my colleague has said, they have paid to get to where they think their destination will be.

Members have noted the high estimates of numbers of people smuggled into the State. As a State we should do more to streamline the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service, INIS, process and systems to help vulnerable people without papers regularise their position. I highlight the remarks from Deputy Howlin earlier about the need for greater co-operation between the INIS and Deputies from across the House, which were well made.

In many cases Members of this House are the last option for those individuals, particularly the most vulnerable people. Agencies should not be using the General Data Protection Regulation and other regulations as a pretext for avoiding transparency and accountability. Personally, I have found INIS officials very helpful but it is clear the office is stretched and requires greater resources and support. Perhaps this is something the Minister of State can raise with colleagues in advance of the next budget.

That said, this is very worthwhile and needed legislation. It is important that Europe is working collectively on it. Much more needs to be done. The Minister of State and the Ceann Comhairle are aware that on 19 October I restored the Sex Offenders (Amendment) Bill 2018 to the Order Paper. That deals with people leaving this jurisdiction for other reasons but such matters must be viewed in the round. Any effort in this space by the State must be welcomed and we must do more in this space to protect vulnerable individuals. As we have said, they believe they are heading to a better destination or life but are confronted with some pretty horrific reality. They feel they cannot do anything about it. We need to hear more about the Health Service Executive anti-human trafficking team and promote it as our existing services need greater support and promotion. That is so people who feel exploited and vulnerable can report their position and, we hope, get the support and assistance they need and deserve.

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