Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I do not have much to add to what has been said. The Labour Party welcomes this proposal with regard to this particularly troubling type of crime and area. The lives of those who are at the rough end of this criminal endeavour are often destroyed and it is disproportionately women and children who are affected. As Deputy Costello said, to raise public consciousness of this issue we need to raise the voices of those who are directly affected by issues such as human trafficking. As has been stated, the sex trade is heavily involved in this area for cheap labour. It is important to ensure all agencies are on board when we try to root this out.

I agree with the point made by Deputy Daly regarding the Internet and those using such platforms to do the business they do. It is far too convenient for social media companies to pretend that what happens on their platforms is not their responsibility. This stuff only breeds and lives because of connectivity, communication and people's ability to speak to one another. The misery in which they are trading is profound. It is the responsibility of the Government and the EU to clamp down on those social media platforms that are being utilised for this endeavour. Again, I refer to the criminalisation of those who will use trafficked labour to undertake work cheaply in our economy. We already have a low-wage economy. Some 23% of Irish workers are on low pay. They are also often undercut by those who find themselves trafficked here. Employers will know the background but will turn a blind eye. We must be absolutely ruthless in rooting out this type of disgraceful behaviour by employers who have a sheen of respectability but may still have people working in their industry, most notably in the tourism and hospitality trade, who might have been trafficked here.

With all that said, though, we welcome the motion that has been brought forward. We will work with the Minister of State to ensure we can beef this measure up and make it more robust. Having said that, a great deal of money is being made by people who pretend to be respectable. We mentioned the social media companies and the hospitality sector. Indeed, this is sometimes also an issue in the sex work sector as well, where those who are profiting need this to continue what they are doing. Hopefully, then, collectively, we can find a path to root out this trafficking.

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