Minister plays down child report

JUSTICE Minister Brian Lenihan has played down a report suggesting Ireland is a route for trafficking children into Britain.

The Welsh Assembly’s administration recently published draft guidance for children’s agencies on safeguarding young people who may have been trafficked. The document named Ireland as a route traffickers use for bringing children into Britain.

Responding to a parliamentary question from Fine Gael TD Dan Neville, Mr Lenihan said: “In the actual draft guidance, there is one sentence referring to Ireland. It reads: ‘Some children arrive in Wales by ferry from Ireland.’

“My officials contacted the children’s health and social services directorate of the Welsh Assembly government for a full report on any issues that they were aware of in relation to Ireland. We were informed this sentence was included based solely on anecdotal evidence provided by a Welsh NGO [non-governmental organisation].”

He acknowledged that a separate report by Britain’s Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre also cited Ireland as a transit country.

“I am not aware of anywhere in either of these reports where Ireland is named as a major route for child trafficking, as was claimed in some coverage,” said Mr Lenihan.

Legislation creating an offence of trafficking is being drafted in the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel and will be published shortly, he said.