Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

The Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Human Trafficking Bill) 2023 focuses on trafficking for sexual exploitation. There is still a need for dedicated legislation to cover trafficking for labour exploitation. I will give a recent example. I have seen correspondence between the International Transport Workers' Federation and the Garda relating to a case where fishers from Ghana were issued with contracts suggesting they would be working in the UK before being put working illegally in highly exploitative conditions on an Irish boat, the Ambitious, which sank two months ago. Despite documentary proof, the Garda concluded the fishers came of their own free will, a conclusion that justifiably earned an excoriating response from the ITF. These fishers now languish undocumented in this State while co-operating with Workplace Relations Commission and Marine Survey Office investigations. As the ITF said in its letter, this approach by the Garda poses a systemic threat to the welfare of non-EEA migrants. This is not good enough. When does the Government intend to bring forward such legislation?

See this speech in context