State's failure to tackle human trafficking akin to accepting 'concreting over burial remains in Bessborough'

The outgoing UN special rapporteur on human trafficking Siobhán Mullally, professor in human rights law and director of the Irish Centre for Human Rights at University of Galway. Picture: University of Galway

Ireland’s lack of urgency in tackling human trafficking is part of the same attitude that saw the State allow illegal adoptions and the potential concreting of burial grounds at Bessborough, according to the UN special rapporteur on human trafficking.

Speaking at an event in Cork to mark World Day Against Trafficking in Persons, Siobhán Mullally highlighted a reluctance to tackle human trafficking despite international legal obligations being in place from the early part of the 20th century.

She also said the UN had issued correspondence to Irish authorities in 2021 to highlight the “failure to respond to forms of trafficking relating to illegal adoptions that occurred for decades, the lack of accountability, the lack of effective investigation, and the lack of prosecution of perpetrators”. 

We see the State accepting potentially concreting over burial remains in Bessborough, for example, here in Cork, without effective investigations, without forensic science analysis, of the remains of almost 900 bodies. 

"We saw that normalisation of the illegal adoptions over decades. And that is all connected to what we see now in terms of the continuing figures in relation to child trafficking, but also the trafficking of men and boys in the context of forced labour and sexual exploitation, women and girls, all genders. We don’t see that urgency, and we normalise that.” 

She told the Irish Examiner there needed to be an urgency in the introduction of a national referral mechanism to help identify victims of trafficking.

Currently, only gardaí can identify victims of human trafficking. 

However, operational guidelines for a new national referral mechanism will allow other frontline agencies to identify those who have been trafficked. 

It is anticipated the rollout of the new referral mechanism will lead to an increase in the number of children and adults identified by frontline workers. 

However, the mechanism that was due to be introduced early last year still is not in place.

Prof Mullally said: “There needs to be a completely different mindset in terms of the legislators and politicians to recognise the seriousness of human trafficking. 

There is a class issue — often it is children from socio-economically disadvantaged communities or families. It can be a race issue, a normalisation that this happens to asylum-seeking or migrant children. 

Prof Mullally also said she was “seriously concerned” a whistleblower who raised concerns about the handling of unaccompanied minors arriving in Ireland by Tusla has been told by Hiqa that a “relevant wrongdoing may have occurred”.

The Irish Examiner reported last weekend the whistleblower made a protected disclosure to the health watchdog earlier this year after becoming concerned after “many former Border Management Unit officers who worked in Dublin airport” raised issues with how “family reunification assessments” were handled at the airport.

Prof Mullally said: “It is a serious concern that the level of child protection is not as it should be — in particular around family reunification, children travelling on their own. You always have to have a full risk assessment prior to family reunification.

“There needs to be a full review of what is happening, what are the processes, has everyone been properly trained, are they prioritising the assessment of potential risks?”