Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

307. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of persons identified as having being illegally trafficked into the State in the past five years; the numbers of these persons that are children; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32342/17]

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

A distinction needs to be drawn between human trafficking and people smuggling, as there is no requirement that a person must have crossed a border for human trafficking to have taken place.

People smuggling involves migrants being facilitated with entry into a state through illegal means and, unlike human trafficking, must take place across international borders. Human trafficking is the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, crucially, for the purpose of exploitation. Trafficking in human beings can, and does, take place within national borders. Whereas persons are trafficked by means of coercion or deception, persons who are smuggled usually consent to being smuggled, albeit often in dangerous or degrading conditions.

It is also important to note that people smuggling can lead to trafficking if, for example, the circumstances of the smuggled persons change during the journey or on arrival in the state leading to them becoming victims of violence and exploitation.

The Government's approach to the crime of human trafficking is contained in the ', published by my predecessor in October 2016.

While statistics on people smuggling are unavailable, given the clandestine nature of the activity, it has been estimated that up to 80% of irregular migration from Africa is "facilitated". While a reliable estimate of the numbers of persons being smuggled into Europe is also unavailable, given the destabilisation in the Mediterranean region, the trend is on an upward trajectory. The following data on human trafficking refers to alleged victims reported to the Garda Síochána in a given year. The Deputy may wish to know that further statistics on the extent of human trafficking in Ireland are available on the State's dedicated website, www.blueblindfold.gov.ie.

Alleged victims of trafficking reported to An Garda Síochána by year of report

* Human trafficking is broadly defined in Irish legislation, and offences relating to child pornography often bring such actions within the legal definition of human trafficking. Therefore, these statistics include victims of crimes committed under Section 3(2) of the Criminal Law (Human Trafficking) Act 2008; in general these are victims of sexual offences relating to child pornography, sexual assault and sexual indecency, rather than what might be considered human trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation such as prostitution. This distinction should be borne in mind when considering the above data and, in particular, when comparing Irish statistics with those of other jurisdictions .