Aideen Hayden (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. We appreciate her support and willingness to come here regularly. The Bill essentially extends existing anti-trafficking legislation. Trafficking in persons for the purpose of sexual or labour exploitation is currently outlawed under the Criminal Law (Human Trafficking) Act 2008. The Act incorporated EU anti-trafficking standards as set out in an EU framework decision. However, these minimum standards were replaced by a further directive in 2011 which requires EU states to criminalise trafficking for forced begging for the purpose of criminal activities. The Bill before us today deals with this requirement to amend Irish law accordingly. We are up to the wire on that one as April is the deadline. The Bill uses an International Labour Organisation definition and places into Irish law a specific definition of forced labour. Forced labour is difficult to define and prove, however.

The Bill also provides that public officials, as defined in the legislation, face harsher penalties than private individuals convicted of the same offences, and rightly so. Although our existing law under the 2008 Act is reasonably robust, and aside from the legal requirement upon us to transpose the directive into Irish law, the US State Department, which monitors trafficking internationally, has made recommendations to the Irish Government on how our anti-trafficking measures can be improved. It made such a report in 2012 and recommended that Ireland consider drafting specific amendments to criminalise forced labour in order to strengthen the existing 2008 legislation.

I wish to thank the Oireachtas Library and Research Service for the digest its staff prepared for us on this Bill. It not only gives an explanation of the Bill before us, but also provides a more rounded explanation on the background to the legislation and some interesting statistics on where Ireland, and Europe, currently stand in the battle to prevent the trafficking of human beings internationally.

One of the key points of the European Commission's report Trafficking in Human Beings noted that almost 24,000 people in the EU were identified as victims of trafficking over the 2008 to 2010 period. Of more concern is the fact that represented an increase of 18% over that three-year period. More importantly, the report noted that the level of trafficking convictions decreased by 13% in the same period.

It is worth repeating that 79% of trafficking victims are female, of whom 12% are girls. It is a commonly held view that a lot of individuals involved in trafficking are from outside the EU but in fact, as the report identified, the majority of victims are from within the EU - mainly from Romania, Bulgaria, Poland and Hungary.

The report cites statistics concerning those identified as victims of trafficking per 100,000 inhabitants for each EU country. Ireland came in at 1.7%, which is just below the EU average of two victims per 100,000 inhabitants. It is not necessarily something for us to be proud of. First of all, it is difficult to estimate with any degree of accuracy the numbers of people who are trafficked within Ireland. As the Migrant Rights Centre has reported, forced labour is a growing problem in Ireland. The centre has dealt with over 180 cases of forced labour over the last six years.

One of the difficulties raised in the reports I have cited is the fact that we do not appear to be prosecuting to any great extent under the 2008 legislation. For example, the US State Department noted that although it regarded our anti-trafficking legislation as robust, not a single case had been taken under the 2008 Act. Of the cases that were taken, there was only one successful conviction in 2011, which was presumably taken under other legislation.

I am assuming that is because the 2008 legislation sets a very high bar for the successful conviction of persons for human trafficking offences. Perhaps the Minister can comment on whether it is deemed to be easier to secure convictions under other legislation. The fact remains that no matter how many laws we pass or how robust they are, if we do not prosecute under those laws, then it is not of any relevance to have them on the Statute Book.

I welcome the extra-territorial measures in the Bill because human trafficking knows no borders. We have recognised the importance of extra-territorial issues in other legislation, including, for example, the female genital mutilation legislation introduced in 2012. I also welcome sections 2 and 3 which provide for additional sanctions on officers or employees of public bodies. It is interesting to note that the definition of a public body includes any "body, organisation or group financed wholly or partly out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas that stands prescribed for the time being (being a body, organisation or group that, in the opinion of the Minister, ought, in the public interest and having regard to the provisions and spirit of this Act, to be prescribed)". That is a very wide definition indeed and can potentially cover a very significant number of bodies which receive funding from the State.

Forced labour is a modern day form of slavery. It behoves all of those bodies tasked in this area, including the HSE and the Department, as well as wider society to be conscious of the realities of forced labour. Indeed, organisations such as trade unions must be alive to the issues of forced labour.

I was very interested in Senator van Turnhout's observations on the au pair industry. Indeed, I raised that issue myself in a previous debate on the vetting of persons working with children in the context of child protection. While hiring an au pair is, in theory, a very casual arrangement designed to provide a young person with the experience of living in another country, increasingly, due to current economic circumstances and the cost of child care, many people are using au pairs as the principal carers of their children. While it may not be possible for us, as a country acting alone, to regulate this area, it is something that must be examined at a European level because of the child protection implications.