Eugene Regan (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister of State's comprehensive statement on the issues of immigration, human trafficking etc. We are, however, discussing a report from a seminar held by the Association for Criminal Justice Research and Development in October 2008. It would be more useful if the House discussed legislation. Legislation is what the House is about and its responsibility. If our debates were more focused on specific elements of legislation, then the House would be more relevant, making a contribution to legislative effectiveness.

The Minister of State referred to amending the "for gain" clause in the Criminal Law (Human Trafficking) Bill 2007 to ensure success in prosecuting human traffickers. This was already highlighted by the Illegal Immigrants (Trafficking) Act 2000. It is unfortunate it has taken so long to correct what was an obvious anomaly which caused problems.

All political parties take seriously the integration and involvement of the immigrant community in Irish life. Several policy initiatives introduced in this area have been useful. For example, the translation of road safety manuals and signage is important to the migrant community. The human trafficking legislation is important in that it transposes our international and EU obligations. The unit in the Department will provide a necessary focus in following through these obligations. Aid to sporting bodies to ensure immigrant communities' participation in sports club is also welcome.

The work of the Association for Criminal Justice Research and Development is important because it reflects the increasing diversity of our population. At the October 2008 seminar, eight substantial papers were given by experts in this area. It was motivated by the designation of 2008 as the year of intercultural dialogue.

The paper by Pat Folan, director general of the Irish Nationalisation and Immigration Service, on crime security and the immigration system was a comprehensive exposé of immigration procedures, the difficulties thrown up by them and how these are dealt with. The Garda Ombudsman, Carmel Foley, dealt with minorities and the police complaints process, examining whether discrimination exists in this area. Phillip Watt, director of the national consultative committee on racism and interculturalism, gave a paper on crime and ethnic diversity. The observations of Hilkka Becker, senior solicitor for the Immigrant Council of Ireland, were extremely incisive.

The conference was opened by the then Minister of State with responsibility for integration policy, Deputy Conor Lenihan, who outlined the Government's integration and diversity policy proposals, which were set out in Migration Nation. While he set out several well-meaning and lofty policy aspirations, much of them have come unstuck. At the conference, he stated that his office was in the process of setting up specific structures to achieve its core co-ordination and promotion aims. These were to include a ministerial council, a task force and a commission for integration. By December 2008, the task force and the commission for integration were abandoned. No ministerial council has yet been established, unless the Minister of State can inform me otherwise. While some progress has been made, some steps back have also been taken. The significant reduction in the budgetary allocation to the integration office will further hinder the Minister of State in pursuing these objectives.

There are many positive signals in the area of immigration, social inclusion and integration. While an opinion poll from September last suggested people wanted more control in immigration, it nevertheless showed that 54% of people believed it had been good for Ireland. Pat Folan referred to this in his paper. The Garda Ombudsman, Carmel Foley, highlighted the statistic that just fewer than 2% of all complaints made to her commission entailed an allegation of discrimination. Some of the complaints cited by the immigrant community suggest they were based more on misunderstandings than any obvious act of discrimination. To suggest there is an over-representation of the immigrant community in our prisons does not stack up when one examines the statistics in detail . Philip Watt pointed out that, excluding the UK, the percentage of non-Irish nationals in the prison population is 6.5%, well below the non-Irish percentage of the overall population of 10%. Only one third of all non-Irish nationals committed to prison are for immigration type offences.

There is evidence that with the economic downturn, inward migration into Ireland has reduced significantly. At the same time, however, the exodus of migrant workers and their families has been limited. Accordingly, the fundamental issue of the integration of migrants remains and must be addressed.

The Immigration, Residence and Protection Bill 2008 will, as pointed out by Hilkka Becker, senior solicitor for the Immigrant Council of Ireland, criminalise irregular migrants which will equate them with smugglers, traffickers and those employers who engage people smuggled for exploitation. This is one of the fundamental issues which arises in any discussion on immigration and on that immigration Bill. We will be returning to that issue in the House and I will reserve my position for that debate.

The latest report of the Immigrant Council of Ireland on globalisation, sex trafficking and prostitution, which revealed that 102 victims of human trafficking were identified in 21 months, shows that this is an issue we need to continue to address. The new legislation introduced last year should help but further change is required in the immigration Bill and will have to be considered.

The paper by Pat Folan suggests we are playing catch-up in terms of legislation, staffing and organisational structures given the sudden wave of immigration over the past ten years. To be fair, much work has been done, much budgetary expenditure has been incurred and significant progress has been made in dealing with immigration, tackling the issue of illegal immigration and dealing with those elements such as human trafficking which are the most unsavoury elements of the whole system.

I make one point about the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service, namely, it was only when it was pointed out recently by Fine Gael that its website was not reflective of the most up-to-date position in regard to procedures for immigration that changes were made. It was supposed to be a one-stop shop in terms of information when it was established in May 2007 but this was only recently corrected.

There is also the issue of the Metock case, which creates serious issues for the type of system which it is intended would be applied in Ireland. The Government allowed the loophole to remain in our current marriage laws which facilitates sham marriages for the purpose of gaining residency status in this country. Again, Fine Gael drafted an amendment via the Social Welfare Bill 2008 to deal with this loophole in a proportionate manner. It is unfortunate this was not acted upon.

There are other aspects of the association's report concerning minorities in the justice system, particularly in regard to the Travelling community and representation in the juvenile justice system. I do not find from the papers that there is any evidence of real discrimination in our system in terms of access to justice or with regard to the prison population, which is a very positive element in all of this. We seem to be able to accommodate the immigrant community in a manner which respects fundamental rights, in particular the right to access to justice.

In conclusion, the report of the association of its seminar last October provides very interesting background material on this whole subject, which remains important for policy makers and legislators such as ourselves. The economic recession has stemmed the flow of immigration - there is no question about that - but we now have an immigrant community which represents upwards of 10% of our population. We still have a task to ensure the integration of those people into Irish society. We need to fine-tune our legislation and continue to provide the support structures to ensure this takes place.

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House.