Olivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Question 449: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the steps he will take to counteract human trafficking of women to Ireland for prostitution in view of the fact that this country has not ratified the UN Trafficking Protocol or the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking and thenon-governmental organisations sector working to prevent this trafficking receives minimal State aid. [18433/06]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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In common with other EU countries, to date, all the indications are that, in Ireland, trafficking in human beings takes place on a much smaller scale than illegal immigration. In the recently published United Nations report "Trafficking in Persons Global patterns" Ireland ranks at the low end of destination or transit countries in western Europe. Garda operations have uncovered a small number of trafficking cases. These indicate the involvement of eastern European nationals in trafficking and attempted trafficking activity. The Gardaí have encountered a small number of cases of eastern European women being trafficked into Ireland for the purpose of sexual exploitation within their own ethnic communities. An Garda Síochána and the Garda National Immigration Bureau, in particular, take a proactive and vigorous approach in preventing and combating trafficking of human beings. A number of ongoing Garda operations, including "Operation Hotel" and "Operation Quest", are in place to tackle the phenomenon. The approach taken in tackling trafficking is, where possible, to prevent it occurring, or where it does occur, to seek to prosecute the perpetrators and to protect the victims.

On 5 May I launched a poster campaign to assist in addressing trafficking. This campaign, which is facilitated by Crimestoppers, will help raise awareness of trafficking among the general public. It will also provide an important point of contact for those who may be victims of, or vulnerable to, this insidious crime. The posters are being displayed at airports, ports, bus and railway stations, among other places. Anyone who rings the free phone number 1800 25 00 25 can be assured that the call is anonymous, safe and free of charge. Victims of trafficking, or anyone with knowledge of trafficking activities, should not be afraid of contacting the authorities for assistance. An Garda Síochána, my Department and the International Organisation for Migration are all participating in the campaign and are available to provide whatever assistance is necessary to victims who come to our attention.

This month also, I published on the Department's website the report of a working group on human trafficking comprising representatives of my Department and An Garda Síochána. I fully support the conclusions and recommendations in the report, which is clear evidence that my Department and An Garda Síochána are committed to tackling trafficking in human beings at a national level and to working with our European Union and other colleagues to tackle it internationally.

I can advise the Deputy that my Department through the Probation and Welfare Service provides funding to a community based project known as Ruhama. An annual grant of €275,000 was paid to the project in 2005 and a similar amount has been approved for the current year.

Clients referred by the Service to Ruhama receive both individual and group counselling to assist in the area of prevention and rehabilitation, directly, and in liaison with other agencies.

The project itself has successfully helped women to exit prostitution and take up educational opportunities, training, employment or to develop enterprises.

In addition, in 2005, Ruhama were given a grant of €26,768 to enable them to engage a co-ordinator to combat trafficking in persons for the purpose of sexual exploitation and my Department, under the Equality for Women Measure in the National Development Plan, has provided grant assistance of €381,000 for the development of the 'Next Step Initiative', a model of intervention to help women in prostitution develop the skills and confidence to join mainstream society.

My Department also contributed €12,000 towards the setting up of 'Ireland-en-Route', the inter-agency forum established to address the problem of trafficking in women and children for sexual exploitation.

Under current Irish Criminal Law it is an offence, punishable by up to life imprisonment, to traffick a person under 17 years of age, male or female, into, through or out of Ireland for the purpose of that person's sexual exploitation. This is provided for in the Child Trafficking and Pornography Act 1998.

Under the Illegal Immigrants (Trafficking) Act 2000, it is an offence for a person to organise or knowingly facilitate the entry into Ireland of another person whom that person knows or has reasonable cause to believe is an illegal immigrant. The penalty on conviction on indictment for this offence is a maximum of 10 years imprisonment or an unlimited fine or both.

Inevitably, when a person is trafficked for the purpose of sexual exploitation other serious offences will be committed, such as rape, sexual assault, assault and false imprisonment.

Legislation creating an offence of trafficking in persons for the specific purpose of sexual or labour exploitation is contained in the draft Criminal Justice (Trafficking in Persons and Sexual Offences) Bill which is at an advanced stage of preparation in my Department. This Bill will allow for compliance with the EU Framework Decision on combating trafficking in persons adopted by the Council of Ministers on 19 July, 2002. The legislation will also allow for full compliance with the later EU Framework Decision on combating the sexual exploitation of children and child pornography.