Catherine Ardagh (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy James Browne, for coming to the House to introduce this legislation, which I very much support. Immigration is one of the biggest challenges facing European nations, including this country. It is important that we have legislation like this to tackle the smuggling of persons. Interestingly, one of the first sentences for involvement in human trafficking was handed down in Mullingar criminal court yesterday. The Minister of State has acknowledged the dedication of An Garda Síochána in investigating these crimes and ensuring that they are prosecuted successfully. They are harrowing crimes with victims at the centre of them. My colleague, Senator Black, referred to the use of language, which is very important.Behind each of these instances of smuggling, there are individuals and families. The definition is important. Trafficking is obviously without consent and is for exploitation reasons, whereas smuggling is with consent but is illegal and can turn into serious exploitation. We hear anecdotally of cases where payments for smuggling were not made and exploitation ensued. That happens a lot.

The Minister of State must be commended on his new legislation, which offers a once in a generation amnesty to undocumented migrants. Inextricably linked to this legislation is the fact that he is giving a new chance to undocumented people, some of whom are here because of exploitation while others have been smuggled here. The legislation will affect up to 17,000 women living in Ireland and have a positive impact on their lives.

Many of those who have been trafficked or smuggled here do not know this amnesty is available to them. It would be great if a helpline could be put in place, perhaps through Ruhama or one of the other NGOs that do unbelievable work in this area, to let people know about it. Some people are lucky to get the counsel and advice of these amazing NGOs but others, especially those with poor English, many of whom work in the sex industry or as domestic workers, do not know that these organisations and services are there to protect them. We need to do a lot more on communication.

I support the legislation and commend the Minister of State on his work on immigration generally. This is only one Bill but he has done much more in the short time he has been in office. I congratulate him on that.