Barry Ward (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The issue I raise today relates to human trafficking and our ability to identify it within Ireland and the need to do so. As we know, it takes different forms. Obviously, there is human trafficking from a sexual exploitation perspective but there is also human trafficking for the purposes of labour and work, which is what we might encounter in our daily lives more commonly. As we go about our daily lives in all kinds of industries where there are customer-facing or public-facing roles, unbeknownst to us, we encounter people who have been trafficked and are working against their will. They are in an invidious situation and they cannot get out of it. While we might encounter those people, very few of us are equipped with the skills we need to identify those people.In the context of this Commencement matter, I ask that the State provide an awareness campaign for people in order that they can properly understand the factors that can identify a person who has been trafficked here for labour purposes or for whatever other purposes. This would allow ordinary people to take the opportunity to avail of training or education or whatever it might be to equip them with the skills needed to spot the signals that can be there when somebody is a trafficked person. Would it not be amazing if a person in an employment scenario or public-facing service role could spot the signals of person having been trafficked when they encounter them? They could then go to the authorities, An Garda Síochána or whoever to inform them of their suspicions in order that the matter could be properly investigated and dealt with. We know that people who are trafficked are not coming to the attention of authorities.

By bringing this to the Seanad today, I am trying to state there is an opportunity here for the Government in circumstances where we know that this is a problem. It is a problem in every country in the world but is an issue the Minister has specifically highlighted. In the past year, we have targeted legislation that deals with this problem, which is welcome. Would it not be wonderful were ordinary people to be equipped with the skills they need to ask themselves whether that person needs help or whether there is a body that can be notified of that person or that person's circumstances in order that the body could help?

I am conscious of the report by IHREC in respect of the actions that we can take. I believe the report contains 30 or 40 pages of actions the State can take in response to human trafficking. Many of them, however, deal with specific agencies and while I certainly welcome provisions of hotlines and reporting mechanisms for people, the reality is that people cannot avail of those mechanisms if they do not know what they are looking for.

I refer to a public awareness campaign or the provision of training for members of the public and, as is called for in the report, those people in particular who are in industries in which they might come in contact. However I am talking more about the public and making available to people, through a public awareness campaign, a set of key factors of which they should be aware, that is, a set of signals and tell-tale signs in their daily lives that could cause them to pause for thought and ask themselves whether they should be saying something to the agencies or An Garda Síochána about a particular person's situation in order that they can investigate and ease that person's situation. Of course, people might be wrong and we have to equip the agencies to do what they should be doing there. But this Commencement matter is about equipping members of the public with the tools they need to spot human trafficking and report it in order that we can all benefit from its eradication.