Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

It is really important to be clear this is not the humanitarian assistance space. There are two parties who are in jeopardy of wrongful prosecution, basically, and in some cases there is a chilling effect from this. They are those who are offering humanitarian assistance. I refer to those who can, for example, show they are employees of a human rights NGO etc., and who are using that as a defence. Again, I believe that should be dealt with as an exemption in the Bill. However, this relates to the smuggled persons themselves. It would not be appropriate that a smuggled person would have to be in a situation of trying to prove he or she is providing humanitarian assistance to his or her own child. As the Minister of State has outlined it, the idea or relying on a defence in relation to this would be inappropriate. This is specifically relating to family members, to one's own family and minor children. It would not be very useful for families, who have in many cases endured significant trauma in being smuggled, that we would have one family member who is in fact entering a prosecutorial system where he or she must defend themselves as a humanitarian, particularly when that might be the caregiver or the person who needs to be navigating the immigration process. Even the fact of being in a potential prosecution could compromise somebody's ability to even seek asylum, for example, or other legitimate immigration status.

Most of these amendments are around that humanitarian space. This is around the smuggled person. The Minister of State himself was crystal clear in his Second Stage speech that there is no intention to prosecute, regardless of defences, smuggled persons. I am pointing out a danger, a jeopardy, whereby a smuggled person could be prosecuted. I do not mind if he wants to accept these amendments or to come up with other proposals for how we address it but I want to be absolutely assured that will not happen.