Jim Walsh (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

While I support those who call for an investigation into human trafficking in the fishing industry, based on a British newspaper report, which has obviously prompted politicians to comment, it raises certain questions. We should not just be looking at fishing in isolation. Human trafficking is far more extensive than just the fishing industry, and people are trafficked for both labour and sexual exploitation. As usual, many politicians are jumping on a bandwagon just because the media have raised a particular issue. We need to be much stronger in the areas of surveillance and detection in this regard. It is astonishing that the Minister is only now coming to realise what is happening in the fishing industry. We have many public servants going around in all sorts of employment agencies, which I have criticised in the past, tormenting small businesses in general, which are trying to get on with business, and imposing all sorts of bureaucratic regulations on them, whereas in fact these much more fundamental breaches of employment law are not being touched at all. The laissez-faireapproach needs to be challenged. We should have the Minister come to the House to have a debate on the whole area of human trafficking and sexual and labour exploitation in this Republic. It is quite extensive, as anybody who takes an interest in the topic will know. It is a global issue, but we should be trying to do what we can here.

I agree with Senator Mark Daly on the need for a debate not just on Northern Ireland but on the reunification of the island of Ireland and the policies we should be looking at introducing in order to facilitate and achieve that aspiration. One sees people saying that they support a united Ireland under certain circumstances, but if it comes to paying more tax, they are not as enthusiastic about it. We could all draw on the spirit of the men of 1916, who obviously did not take a view that they would pursue independence from the British oppressor in that era by asking themselves whether it would cost them more tax. In fact, they were prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice and give their lives so that we would be independent and enjoy freedom. We need to reconnect with that spirit of self-sacrifice in the national interest. Particularly as we become more multicultural, it is important that this particular value, which stood us in good stead over many centuries, is adhered to and is balanced. As a result of the Good Friday Agreement, we now have a template for pursuing a united Ireland in a peaceful way, which is ultimately the only way we are going to achieve it. We can put the troubles of the past behind us and build on the foundations that are there to achieve that. I support fully what Senator Daly has said. A debate on this topic in this House is long overdue and it should be done on a regular basis.