Carol Nolan (Offaly, Independent)
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In June 2023, a scoping report on the sexual exploitation of children in State care by UCD academics, Dr. Mary Canning, Dr. Marie Keenan and Ms Ruth Breslin was published. The Sexual Exploitation Research and Policy, SERP, Institute report clearly outlined in horrifying detail the predatory behaviour that these young people, mainly young girls, were being subjected to on an ongoing basis, which was totally disturbing. We were told how some of the most vulnerable children in this State were going missing or running away from home or a care placement, despite the fact that some had an intellectual disability or had suffered prior sexual abuse or neglect. I raised this issue in this Chamber in November 2023 with the then Tánaiste, Deputy Micheál Martin. We had a constructive engagement and agreement on this issue.

Since then, I have tabled numerous parliamentary questions on the issue, the most recent in the past few days. I have been informed in response to one of these questions that while a final draft of the commissioned report on a systematic review to examine institutional, organisational and organised child abuse, including trafficking and exploitation of children and young people, has been received by the Department of children, it is still being assessed for final consideration and observations.

It has been two years since the SERP report was published, with some serious concerns, and 21 months since I raised it on the floor of this House. I fully understand that there is a need to generate a robust evidence base to inform the State's policy and practice responses to institutional and organised abuse and its prevention. My fear is that this issue has fallen out of the spotlight and the sense of urgency, that we so badly need, is not appropriate to the level of the emergency that these vulnerable children are facing.

The State may move slowly, but unfortunately predators do not. They are relentless in their poisonous pursuit of these children. We must be equally determined and relentless in our efforts to stop them and we need to do it urgently. We have seen from the UK's experience what happens when the State appears to deprioritise these concerns. I am not saying that is happening here to the same extent, but the Tánaiste will agree with me that we cannot even allow the perception to take hold that these vulnerable children are not on the State's priority list.

Will he do what he can to speed up the introduction of robust protections for the children identified in the SERP report and elsewhere? It is clear that the current system is failing children if they continue to be targeted by such vicious and violent predators. Unfortunately, that continues.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for highlighting this extremely important issue and for highlighting it on an ongoing basis and for her work on this. We appreciate that. It is important. I was listening to the Deputy and thinking back to some of the debates we had in the previous Dáil. We are going to have to do more to empower An Garda Síochána with the technology it needs for this. The predators, exploiters and criminals, and I can think of many worse words which I am not allowed to use in this House, are using these technologies and are ahead of some of the things that we do. I visited the Garda in the Phoenix Park in relation to this and watched how gardaí are having to sift through the most horrific images for an extraordinarily long time. There is technology that can do that more quickly. We have decided to listen to the views of some who do not have to sift through that more than the gardaí who are on the front line.

I will absolutely follow up with the Minister, Deputy Foley, in the first instance, about the SERP report and the issues the Deputy has identified, and ask her to come back to the Deputy with a timeline. I assure Deputy Nolan that this Government is fully committed, as I know everyone in this Oireachtas is, to addressing sexual exploitation in all of its forms, most particularly child sexual exploitation and child trafficking. To tackle human trafficking, including the trafficking of children, the Government has supported the expansion of the border management unit. Around 200 members of the border management unit are based at Dublin Airport alone. To encourage victims to come forward and access supports, in November 2023, probably when the Deputy was having that previous engagement, the national action plan to prevent and combat trafficking was launched. Its key actions include a new national referral mechanism, making it easier for victims to come forward; new and widespread training for all those who may come into contact with victims; and ongoing development and training through NGOs targeting front-line staff in certain industries.

Sexual exploitation of children is an extremely serious offence. We have comprehensive legislation in place to deal with it but this is about making sure that we can robustly always quickly implement that legislation. It is something we have to give absolute attention to. We are fully committed to playing an active role in negotiations on new EU laws that will require online service providers to deal with child sexual abuse material and attempts to groom children on their platforms. The Minister, Deputy McEntee, played a leading role on this in the previous Government.

An Garda Síochána's online child exploitation unit is the national centre point of contact for receiving referrals in relation to child sexual exploitation or abuse material. Referrals are received from a number of sources, including the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Europol, Interpol, the FBI and the National Crime Agency. The role of this unit also includes the investigation and co-ordination of cases relating to possession, distribution and production of child sexual abuse material and any related sexual abuse and exploitation of children. They are also proactively investigating intelligence concerning paedophiles and their use of technology, including through the targeting of those suspected of the production, distribution and possession of child abuse images. There is a huge amount to do in this area. We will keep an absolute focus on it. I will ask the Minister, Deputy Foley, and perhaps, the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, to further engage with the Deputy directly on it.

Carol Nolan (Offaly, Independent)
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I thank the Tánaiste for his comprehensive response, and more importantly, his commitment to tackle this issue. I accept there is a need to resource An Garda Síochána with regard to technology. There is no doubt about that. Every resource needs to be used to protect these vulnerable children who are subjected to a nightmare of sexual abuse exploitation. That is my main concern. The findings of the report need to be looked at and responded to in greater detail. I had the pleasure of meeting the academics involved in compiling this report. They have legitimate concerns. Our laws need to become a lot tougher on the issue of child exploitation. I and many others want to make sure these predators - people who exploit children - face the full hammer of the law. It should come down on them heavy and a message be sent out that that is what anyone who tries to exploit vulnerable children in State care will be facing. The message that needs to go out is that it will not be tolerated and, more importantly, that we are monitoring the situation. To the best of my knowledge, there are children being picked up from airports where they are coming in unaccompanied and they are being placed in all sorts of settings.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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There is a special place in hell for anybody who commits a sexual crime against a child. While we cannot do much about places in hell, we can do things about places in prison. We can do things about making sure our legislation and resourcing are as robust as possible. As the Deputy rightly said, we need to come at this with every possible resource and avenue. I appeal to the Oireachtas to please listen to An Garda Síochána about the tools and legislative changes it needs in terms of technology. There was a rush of people into this place the last time but none of those people were involved in stopping the exploitation of children online. The gardaí are asking and the Garda Commissioner has asked this place to give them more powers in relation to facial recognition technology. The Dáil has not quite shrugged its shoulders, but it has not done much more than that. We have to act on this. The Minister is determined to act on it. The Government is determined to act on it. Technology and facial recognition technology have a role to play here in getting on top of these predators and bringing an end to some of these disgusting practices.

There is also a role at an EU level. We need the European Union to decide whose side it is on here. We have had discussions about social media, digital media and all that sort of stuff. The EU needs to put the protection of children ahead of any other interest in terms of online platforms. We will continue to engage intensively on this.