Lynn Ruane (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I echo everything that Senator Higgins has said. Under the 2002 EU directive, the facilitator of entry and transit does not need to have obtained any financial benefit from smuggling in order for it to be considered a crime. However, Article 6.1 of the protocol requires that the act be for financial gain or other material benefit. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime has gone further and stated that the financial and material benefit element of the crime is a key component of the international definition. It notes that it was intended by the drafters to ensure that those who provided support for smuggled persons for humanitarian and family reasons were not prosecuted. Criminalising people for smuggling without requiring a financial or other material element to the crime may have the effect of criminalising a wider range of circumstances not intended under the protocol, including, for example, people providing assistance on the basis of family or for humanitarian grounds.

EU research has found that those involved in providing assistance to irregular migrants report that they fear sanctions. They can also experience intimidation by some national authorities when carrying out their work. Therefore, I ask the Minister of State to accept these amendments in order to protect these vulnerable people and those who assist them.