Caít Keane (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House. I compliment the Minister on the work he is doing on prevention and, hopefully, broadening the net. I compliment the Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality on its recently published report and recommendations. The most notable recommendation is to criminalise the purchase of sexual services by another person by means of prostitution or any request, agreement or attempt to do so. The proposal should be clarified to ensure that no offence is committed by the person whose sexual services are sold. The Minister has something to consider in that regard. The amendments made by the Dáil, particularly the amendment to section 4, are very positive. I will speak on that later.

International co-operation on trafficking is very important. We must ensure that the national referral mechanism works to its full capacity. The Minister is co-operating in that context with non-governmental organisations. The mechanism is working well but could be strengthened further. I was in Romania at the weekend to attend a meeting of parliamentarians against human trafficking. A recommendation that emerged from the meeting was that every border agency should ensure full co-operation among all agencies. I was alarmed to read during the week the comments of PSNI Chief Constable Matt Baggot on the proposed national crime agency in the North to combat crime, including trafficking, across the Border. Trafficking has no boundaries. The Chief Constable said lives would be put at risk by curtailing the powers of the national crime agency. It was Sinn Féin and the SDLP who blocked the initiative in the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Sinn Féin should ensure there is the fullest co-operation with all agencies of the Assembly and of this State so that policing operations work closely with those in the south of Ireland. Constable Matt Baggott said there would be huge restrictions and lives would be at risk. He expressed concerns that this was not given full support by Sinn Féin and the SDLP. The reason given was that they feared there was not enough transparency. What transparency exists in trafficking? There is very little; it is all hidden. We must do all in our power to ensure there is full transparency. I will speak later on section 4 and I support the section.