Susan O'Keeffe (Labour) | Oireachtas source

It does not describe the problem for me. As the Minister of State said we should call it what it is, slavery, as other have done. It is slavery. Perhaps that is a word that would resonate more clearly with members of the public and would help them to begin to understand that this is a massive problem of our time and that once there is money to be made in trafficking, slavery, the pushing around the world of vulnerable poor people will continue. There is no question about that. The United Nations global initiative to fight human trafficking is evidence not only that the United Nations is involved and has an initiative but that the problem continues to grow. It is not as if countries do not care or that individual states have not put effort into it. Ireland is well recognised for having made considerable effort and yet it is clear from the contributions today and the reading I have done that it is difficult to get prosecutions. While much work has been done in regard to joined up thinking, holding conferences and appointing people to deal with the matter, the issue is growing. It is growing because of poverty and war and the fact that money can be made out of women and children and trafficking people for organ removal and for the sex industry which is as old as we are.

I welcome the legislation. This is Second Stage and it may be slightly bewildering for the people in the Visitors Gallery. As we tend to mention everything on Second Stage, there has been a wide range of contributions. I guess that shows the level of engagement there is and the level of concern we have for the many matters that still need to be addressed. We should say this is a good amendment which, I hope, will clarify the legislation. I ask the Minister of State whether, with the enactment of this legislation, which has cross-party support, there will be more resources for Operation Quest, the Garda intervention operation? We can legislate until we fall over but unless we have the capacity to enforce it, as Senator Jillian van Turnhout and others have said, we are struggling. It is okay to transpose European Union directives but we must have the resources to make it happen on the ground.

In wish to refer to the organ removal issue. This is an issue about which we do not know a great deal because, by and large, we are not aware of the enormous lucrative trade particularly in the US where there is a dispute about when people die as to whether one donates or sells one's organs. The whole idea of selling organs has yet to arrive in this country. Once that takes hold we will have a very different situation. That various body parts can be ground down and used for other materials and medical devices means the trade is enormous. Into the future that is an issue we will have to take account of because I think it will become a difficult aspect of the human trafficking business.