Rónán Mullen (Independent)

I second the amendment. I agree with what Senator White said in his explanation of the amendment. This is an essential obligation of compassion. We need to revisit what this legislation should be about. It is not merely about complying with our international obligations. It is about remembering the persons who are at the heart of all of this, namely, the victims of trafficking.

It would be wrong if a person who is shown to be a victim of an offence under this Bill could then be prosecuted being undocumented or engaging in activities which they were trafficked to engage in. It is important that the law sends out a strong message of solidarity with the victims of trafficking. It would be wrong if this legislation left this House without establishing this non-prosecution provision firmly, given that it is not going to set out a charter of victims' rights, as Senator Alex White, his Labour Party colleagues and I had hoped.

To go back to the amendments we discussed earlier, how inappropriate would it be if a person who used a person who has possibly been trafficked down the line in the way I sought to criminalise with my last amendment walked free while a person who was a victim of trafficking could be subject to the rigours of the law? That would make a farce of this legislation, despite the best intentions of the Government in bringing it forward.