Mary White (Fianna Fail)

I thank Senator Bradford for the courtesy. I went into the salon and there were four Irish girls behind the counter who told me the salon was closed. I said I wanted to make an appointment but they said they had nothing available until next week. This was Wednesday night. We all know that foreign people working in shops, or the service industry generally, cannot wait to pack the bags properly and so on. They smile and talk to everyone.

The Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, Deputy O'Donoghue, made a good point recently about the Ryder Cup tournament, to be held in the autumn. He said that he hopes we give good service and value for money to the visitors who will come here for that event and not exploit them. The standard of service has increased greatly because of the work ethic of our immigrants. My image of Chinese people was that, under communist rule, they did what they were told; it was the ultimate in bureaucracy. I asked my daughter where they got their work ethic and she said that under Mao all they were allowed to do was work. These immigrants are the children of people who lived under Mao, who made them work. It was the other extreme with Mao, as we know, but it was an interesting point.

The report suggests setting up a Department but I do not agree with that. Under the Constitution only 15 Departments are allowed and, as far as I know, we currently have 15 Departments. I suggest a semi-State body or part of a Department be set up to look after immigrants.

I am involved in the Catherine McCauley centre in Baggot Street. The centre was opened 250 years ago by Catherine McCauley, who founded the Sisters of Mercy. Her work was to educate poor Irish women and help them to get jobs. That organisation is now teaching immigrant women IT skills and English. I record my appreciation of the Sisters of Mercy and the Catherine McCauley centre on what they are doing for immigrant women and what Catherine McCauley did 250 years ago for poor Irish women in helping them to get jobs.

The illegal trafficking of women, which was the subject matter of Monday night's "Prime Time" programme, has not caught the imagination of the country as an issue. The alarm bells are not ringing. At an exclusive apartment in Dublin 4, young women who were kidnapped from eastern Europe were being raped and exploited all day long. It is not only pimps who are at fault, but also the customers, whether they are Irish or another nationality.

Something must be done and the people exploiting the women must be dealt with through the law. The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform is quick in terms of deporting people, but what is being done to protect women from this serious slave labour and illegal trafficking problem? Today's edition of The Irish Times states, "Ireland, uniquely in the EU, has no law specifically designed to outlaw the trafficking of women for sex. Under European law, we were supposed to have enacted such provisions by 2004."