Holly Cairns
Question:
489. Deputy Holly Cairns asked the Minister for Justice the number of prosecutions and-or convictions under the Criminal Law (Human Trafficking) Act 2008 and the Criminal Law (Human Trafficking) (Amendment) Act 2013 from the respective commencement of each Act until 1 December 2020; the number of persons prosecuted and-or convicted according to the categories of trafficked individuals for the purpose of sexual exploitation or labour exploitation, forced criminality, forced begging and-or the removal of their organs; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [44563/20]
View answer
At the outset I would emphasise to the Deputy that prosecutions are a matter for the Director of Public Prosecutions who is independent in the performance of her functions.
However, to be of assistance I have asked An Garda Síochána to provide me with information regarding the number of ongoing investigations related to human trafficking. I will forward any information received from An Garda Síochána to the Deputy.
With regard to the information sought on the number of convictions, I am informed by the Courts Service that it is not possible to run a report on the numbers convicted for these specific offences but they have provided what information is available. This information relates to the number of cases and individuals sent forward for trial in the Circuit Court for relevant offences. The information is being collated by my Department and will be sent to the Deputy when it has been complied into a report.
The following deferred reply was received under Standing Order 51.
SUBSTANTIVE ANSWER:
I refer to your Parliamentary Questions No. 489 of 17 December 2020 requesting information in relation to the number of prosecutions and or convictions under the Criminal Law (Human Trafficking) Act 2008 and the Criminal Law (Human Trafficking) (Amendment) Act 2013 since the respective commencement of each Act until 1 December 2020; the number of persons prosecuted and or convicted according to the categories of trafficked individuals for the purpose of sexual exploitation or labour exploitation, forced criminality, forced begging and or the removal of their organs.
You will recall that I undertook to forward any information received from An Garda Síochána regarding the number of ongoing investigations related to human trafficking to you as soon as it was available.
I also undertook to forward information relating to the number of cases and individuals sent forward for trial in the Circuit Court for relevant offences.
I am advised by An Garda Síochána that the PULSE incident type ‘Human Trafficking Offences’ covers offences under the Criminal Law (Human Trafficking) Act 2008 and Criminal Law (Human Trafficking) (Amendment) Act 2013 with particular reference to sections 2, 3, 4, and 5.
Table 1 below details reported incidents of this type per year and the number of those incidents that have proceedings against them (either charge or summons) to date.
Table 1:
|
Year Reported
|
Reported Incidents
|
Incidents with Charges/Summons
|
|
2008
|
5
|
0
|
|
2009
|
57
|
5
|
|
2010
|
40
|
2
|
|
2011
|
39
|
2
|
|
2012
|
16
|
3
|
|
2013
|
21
|
1
|
|
2014
|
42
|
0
|
|
2015
|
37
|
4
|
|
2016
|
38
|
1
|
|
2017
|
52
|
0
|
|
2018
|
69
|
8
|
|
2019
|
43
|
0
|
|
2020*
|
38
|
0
|
* Up to and including 17 December 2020
I am further informed that incident counts are based on reported date and were collated based on PULSE data as of 1:30am on 18 December 2020. Crime counting rules are not applied to reflect all recorded incidents. Results are limited to incidents reported up to and including 17 December 2020.
Regarding the report on the number of prosecutions and or convictions under the Criminal Law (Human Trafficking) Act 2008 and the Criminal Law (Human Trafficking) (Amendment) Act 2013.
I can inform the Deputy that the majority of offences under these Acts are sent forward for trial in the Circuit Court due to the seriousness of the crimes. In the last 5 years only 3 people were convicted on one count each of the offence of sexually exploiting a child (1 person in 2015, 1 in 2017 and 1 in 2018) in the district court.
The Courts Service have advised that it is not possible to run a report on the numbers convicted of these crimes in the Circuit Court as it would require a disproportionate amount of time and resources. However to be of assistance the Courts Service have provided figures for the number of offences and of persons sent forward for relevant crimes to the circuit court for the years 2010 to December 2020.
The attached table 2 sets out the number of offences and of persons sent forward on trial for relevant crimes.
Please note that:
- Courts can only provide data where offence codes provided on the system were used by prosecutors. Prosecutors may have used un-coded free text offences and any such offences would not be included in the data provided.
- A person may be convicted for each offence in that year and will be displayed on report.
- Where offences have been sent forward for trial from the District Court it is not possible to report on their outcomes from the Circuit Court Criminal System (ICMS) by offence, as they are all under the category of Sexual Offences.
