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Unified agency approach to human trafficking on way

Ireland has been upgraded in this year’s Trafficking in Persons Report (TiPS) from the US State Department, which sees Ireland’s ranking upgraded from tier three to tier two on its watch-list.

The TiPPS report took account of:

• The first convictions, in September of last year, for human trafficking,
• Government approval for the creation of a revised National Referral Mechanism to make it easier for victims of trafficking to come forward,
• The national action plan on human trafficking, and
• An increase in funding to support victims, as well as public awareness and prevention efforts.

Exploitative crime

“Human trafficking is an exploitative crime that preys on the vulnerable. I have been clear that there is no place for it in our society,” the Minister for Justice Helen McEntee said yesterday (19 July).

Vulnerable people are trafficked into Ireland for sexual exploitation, forced labour and forced criminality, she added.

The proposed National Referral Mechanism (NRM) will be put on a statutory footing in the General Scheme of the Criminal Justice (Sexual Offences and Human Trafficking) Bill 2022.

The NRM will allow all agencies to co-operate, identify and share information about potential victims.

Tool

The report is the principal US diplomatic tool to engage foreign governments on human trafficking, and it rates in a three-tier system. Ireland was downgraded to the tier-two watch list in 2020. 

Allegations of human trafficking in the fishing industry have been investigated, and files submitted to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP). 

An Garda Síochána reports that the DPP has so far decided not to prosecute in all cases, deeming the necessary threshold of evidence to show human trafficking – as distinct from exploitative work practices – has not been met.