Child trafficking prosecutions soar

New figures show 30 prosecutions were taken in the last two years in relation to the trafficking of children for the purposes of sexual exploitation.

Provisional data provided by Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald shows there were 16 prosecutions in 2013 and 14 in 2014. They continued a marked increase on previous years where there had been around four prosecutions on average annually between 2009 and 2011.

The Department of Justice previously pointed out the vast majority of prosecutions are not for commercial sexual exploitation such as prostitution, but rather for child pornography, sexual assault and sexual indecency, which can involve elements of human trafficking, including recruitment.