I have requested the information sought from the Garda authorities and I will forward it to the Deputy in due course as soon as the information is to hand.
The following deferred reply was received under Standing Order 42A
As you will recall, the requested information could not be obtained in the time available, and I undertook to contact you again as soon as material was received from the Garda authorities.
In November 2015 the British and Irish governments and the Northern Ireland Executive agreed a series of measures in A Fresh Start, the Stormont Agreement and Implementation Plan. One of these measures was the creation of a Joint Agency Task Force (JATF) as part of “a concerted and enhanced effort to tackle organised and cross jurisdictional crime.”
The Joint Agency Task Force provides an opportunity to enhance efforts to tackle cross-border organised crime and to facilitate the investigation and prosecution of those involved in it, including of course in relation to the North West of Ireland and the border area more generally. The establishment of the Joint Agency Task Force has provided an opportunity to step up and intensify that co-operation at both the strategic and operational levels.
The Joint Agency Task Force is led by the police and revenue services and is jointly chaired at a very senior level by a Deputy Commissioner of An Garda Síochána and an Assistant Chief Constable of the PSNI, which facilitates the provision of strong strategic direction and oversight to the front-line operational aspect of tackling criminal activity which has a cross-jurisdictional dimension.
Along with representatives from both relevant police and revenue services, the Joint Agency Task Force involves input from other agencies, including the Criminal Assets Bureau and the UK National Crime Agency, ensuring an expert-focus on targeting and seizing the assets of those involved in organised crime.
Following the establishment of the Joint Agency Task Force Strategic Oversight Group, a Cross Border Strategic Assessment was prepared and completed, with input from the multi-agency partners, to review the extent and impact of organised crime. Based on an agreed strategic assessment and prioritising against threat, harm and risk, it was recommended that consideration be given to adopting six priorities for the Joint Agency Task Force. In this regard, the following six (6) priority areas have been formally ratified by the Strategic Oversight Group and will be subject of review:
(i) Rural Crime
(ii) Child Sexual Exploitation;
(iii) Human Trafficking;
(iv) Financial Crime;
(v) Excise Fraud;
(vi) Drugs.
Since the establishment of the Joint Agency Task Force the relevant law enforcement authorities have engaged in initiatives such as a number of cross-border Days of Action, involving the planned searching of targeted premises and the pursuit of persons suspected to be involved in the criminality associated with human trafficking, for both sexual and labour exploitation.
In early October 2016 a multi-agency operation was undertaken by personnel from An Garda Síochána, the Revenue Investigations Unit, the Workplace Relations Commission Inspectorate, the Irish Navy and the Sea Fisheries Protection Authority during which 41 vessels in the ports of Howth, Co. Dublin and Castletownbere, Co. Cork, and offshore were the subject of inspections, led by the Workplace Relations Commission Inspectorate, utilising powers granted under section 27, Workplace Relations Act, 2015.
Members of An Garda Síochána, from the Human Trafficking Investigation and Coordination Unit and the Garda National Protective Services Bureau accompanied the Inspectorate staff and assisted, as Authorised Officers under the Act.
Also, during an anti-slavery week in October 2016, the PSNI and An Garda Síochána took part in a joint multi-agency operation at Belfast International, Belfast City and Dublin Airports. This was an initiative
involving action designed to identify potential victims of human trafficking upon arrival in Ireland and Northern Ireland, who may have been trafficked for the purpose of sexual exploitation.
An Garda Síochána aims to achieve best practice in its victim-centred approach to combating human-trafficking. For this purpose, An Garda Síochána delivers a variety of specialised anti-human trafficking training to Garda personnel, together with officials from other government agencies, to create an awareness of the indicators of potential victims of human-trafficking, for both sexual and labour exploitation.
Training programmes have been developed and delivered by the Human Trafficking Investigation and Co-Ordination Unit (HTICU), under the auspices of the Garda National Protective Services Bureau (GNPSB), with the assistance provided by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), representatives of which also provide various modules of the training programme.
Representatives from non-governmental organisations and civil society, including Migrant Rights Centre of Ireland (MRCI), Ruhama, the Immigrant Council of Ireland (ICI), along with representatives from relevant State Agencies, such as the National Employment Rights Authority (NERA), Health Service Executive (HSE) and the Department of Justice & Equality, contribute to the three-day training programme delivered at the Garda Síochána College at Templemore.
The resources afforded to tackling human-trafficking in the north-west, and elsewhere within this jurisdiction, are supplemented by the resources assigned to the Human Trafficking Investigation and Co-Ordination Unit (HTICU), under the auspices of the Garda National Protective Services Bureau (GNPSB). The HTICU provides expert assistance, guidance and support to Senior Investigating Officers (SIO), in all Garda Divisions/Districts, assigned to human trafficking cases throughout Ireland.
I hope this information is of assistance.
