'Any child can be vulnerable to trafficking in Ireland'

There is no centralised system for collating whether individual children missing from State care are at risk of sexual exploitation, Children's Minister Norma Foley has revealed.

An organisation working to create awareness of child trafficking is warning that any child can be vulnerable to trafficking in Ireland because of low detection rates here.

The warning by the advocacy group Mecpaths comes as Children's Minister Norma Foley revealed there is no centralised system for collating whether individual children missing from State care are at risk of sexual exploitation. 

The latest figures from the end of January showed that 36 children in the Irish care system were missing. 

They included 33 children categorised as 'separated children seeking international protection' and unaccompanied minors, and three missing from “mainstream care”.

Ms Foley said that of those 36, five had been missing for between one and three days, meaning that 31 were missing for a longer period. 

She said that information on whether children missing from care are suspected to be victims of, or at risk of, sexual exploitation is located on individual case files and is not collated centrally by Tusla.

In 2023, the Protecting Against Predators study, published by the then Sexual Exploitation Research Project, highlighted that children, especially girls, in residential care or who go missing while in State care are being targeted for sexual exploitation in an organised manner by co-ordinated networks of predatory men.

“The innate vulnerability of children requires their environments to be constructed with care-giving adults and safeguards to ensure their protection," said JP O’Sullivan of anti-trafficking of children organisation Mecpaths.

"When children go missing, their vulnerabilities increase with isolation, disconnection, perhaps a lack of identification or documentation. 

"The identification of heightened vulnerabilities by predatorial adults can lead to trust manipulation and potential exploitation of many types," he said.

“The risk of missing children being targeted can occur at locations of vulnerability where children may be moving through or taken through, including transport hubs. 

We need to remember that any child can be vulnerable to exploitation and trafficking, not just outside of Ireland but here at home where low detection rates of child sexual and criminal exploitation have been well documented and Ireland has been identified as a source, transit, and destination source for human trafficking.” 

A joint protocol is in place which requires Tusla to notify gardaí when a young person in care is deemed missing.

While saying that “some unaccompanied minors who go missing from care communicate their intention to travel on to other countries to join family members” or who indicated it was not their intention to remain in Ireland, Ms Foley said that Tusla “is acutely aware of and shares State and European Union concerns about the increased risk of child and human trafficking or exploitation of vulnerable young people”.

She said that the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 2017 addresses the sexual exploitation of children. 

“Under the Children First Act, 2015, child sexual exploitation is defined in detail under the category of sexual abuse and examples are included and clearly outlined to assist mandated persons obligations for reporting abuse,” said Ms Foley.

Last month, the Irish Examiner revealed that 137 children who have gone missing since 1977 remain missing. They included children in State care.