Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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Question 241: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if he will provide details on the G6 human trafficking initiative; when this group last met; when the awareness raising campaign led by Ireland under this initiative will begin; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8386/09]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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The G6 Initiative, which was launched in October 2007 for a one year period, is a co-ordinated international campaign of activity to tackle trafficking in human beings. It involves six European countries — namely the UK, Spain, Italy, Poland, the Netherlands and Ireland and is supported by Europol, Eurojust and Interpol. The initiative is a multi-strand operation marrying policy development with a period of operational policing enforcement activity. The agreed aims and objectives of the initiative were as follows:

To learn more about the problem of human trafficking in the EU;

To make the EU a more hostile environment for criminals engaged in trafficking;

To increase the specialist capabilities of EU Member States to tackle the problem of trafficking;

To raise awareness of the problem with the public, in Government and among law enforcement agencies;

To develop victim care capabilities in the EU and promote a victim centred approach in tackling the problem;

To enhance international co-operation in tackling human trafficking.

The four strands of activity of the initiative are:

an Intelligence Strand led by Europol

an Enforcement Strand led by the Netherlands for labour exploitation and the UK for sexual exploitation

an Awareness Raising Strand led by Ireland

a Victims Strand led by the UK.

The group last met on 20 June 2008. A further meeting is to take place in the coming months to review developments during the period from October 2007 to October 2008.

The Group agreed at its meeting in June 2008 that each of the participating countries would run an awareness raising campaign in their country based on the Blue Blindfold concept which has as its message 'Don't Close your Eyes to Human Trafficking'. The Irish campaign was launched by the Garda Commissioner and I on 21 October, 2008 and ran for 3 weeks. It was designed to raise awareness of the problem of human trafficking with the public and law enforcement agencies and to discourage demand for the services of victims of exploitation. It included newspaper advertisements at the start and the end of the campaign, a wide distribution of posters, leaflets and business cards (to Garda Stations, Libraries, Health Centres, Hospitals, Reception and Integration Agency centres, etc), advertisements on the Luas and on the RTE website, advertisements in sporting programmes/magazines, a 12 hour hotline manned by members of An Garda Síochána and the development of a website — www.blueblindfold.gov.ie. The UK have conducted a number of awareness raising campaigns based on the Blue Blindfold concept (which they originally developed). Poland ran an awareness raising campaign on labour exploitation which aimed at targeting its young population who are emigrating abroad for employment. Italy will commence its awareness raising campaign on 6 March, 2009 aimed at the public and based on the blue blindfold concept. Information on campaigns in Spain and the Netherlands are not available at present.

As part of the enhanced law enforcement activity during the period of the initiative Ireland placed a particular focus on the trafficking of children and launched Operation 'Snow' which was designed:

to prevent the trafficking and smuggling of minors into, out of and within the State;

to ensure the welfare of suspected victims of such criminal activity was adequately provided for and

to achieve prosecutions where criminality activity of the nature concerned has been detected.

As part of this initiative the Garda National Immigration Bureau encouraged increased vigilance by members of An Garda Síochána who are engaged in the immigration process, in particular with regard to the movement of minors into and out of the State, in an effort to discover children who may be victims of human trafficking or smuggling or illegal immigrants. In so doing it is recognised that discovering a child who is a victim of human trafficking at the time he/she enters the State may represent his/her only opportunity to avoid the exploitation the traffickers involved have planned for him/her. Enforcing the relevant provisions of the Refugee Act, 1996 (as amended) and the Childcare Act, 2001 in respect of minors arriving in the State at Ports of Entry, has proved particularly important in offering protection to minors suspected to be victims of human trafficking or smuggling of illegal immigrants.

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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Question 242: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform when the national action plan to prevent and tackle trafficking in human beings will be published; the reason for the delay in publishing; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8387/09]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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Drafting of the National Action Plan is at an advanced stage and I hope to publish it as soon as possible in the coming months.

The National Action Plan to Prevent and Combat Trafficking in Human Beings in Ireland will set out a whole of Government response to this issue. It is being developed under the headings of prevention, prosecution of traffickers, protection of victims and child trafficking. As the problem of human trafficking presents a relatively new challenge to the services of the State the drafting of the plan involves extensive consultation with relevant Government Departments and agencies. As the Deputy will appreciate such consultations take time to complete.

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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Question 243: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the activities of Operation Pentameter 2; when the poster campaign was launched; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8388/09]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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Operation 'Pentameter 2' was a UK initiative which concluded in 2008.The primary aim of the initiative was to ensure a coordinated approach to the phenomenon of human trafficking across all police forces and other Crown agencies, such as the UK Border and Immigration Service, in the UK. An Garda Síochána participated in the initiative as a result of the need to have a coordinated approach to human trafficking within the Common Travel Area, which operates between the UK and Ireland. This cooperation took the form of intelligence sharing; joint training exercises and operational cooperation where investigations had a cross-border (Ireland / UK) dimension.

Poster Campaigns were undertaken as part of Operation Pentameter I and 2. This material was also utilised in joint initiatives with Ireland launched in May 2006 and in October, 2008. Pentameter 2 was linked to activity taking place under the G6 Initiative involving six countries — namely the United Kingdom, Poland, Netherlands, Italy, Spain and Ireland with support from Europol, Interpol and Eurojust. The G6 Awareness Raising strand of activity led by Ireland adopted the 'Blue Blindfold — Don't close your eyes to human trafficking'' concept as a common symbol that could be used in the other countries as well as in the UK. 'Blue Blindfold' was developed by the UK Human Trafficking Centre during Operation Pentameter. The Irish 'Blue Blindfold' awareness raising campaign was launched by the Commissioner of An Garda Síochána and I on 21 October 2008 and ran for three weeks. It was designed to raise awareness of the problem of human trafficking with the public and law enforcement agencies and to discourage demand for the services of victims of exploitation. It included newspaper advertisements at the start and the end of the campaign, a wide distribution of posters, leaflets and business cards (to Garda Stations, Libraries, Health Centres, Hospitals, Reception and Integration Agency centres, etc), advertisements on the Luas and on the RTE website, advertisements in sporting programmes/magazines, a 12 hour hotline manned by members of An Garda Síochána and the development of a website — www.blueblindfold.gov.ie.