On 24 June 2024, the United States Department of State published the 2024 Trafficking in Persons Report, which tracks and assesses countries’ anti-trafficking efforts according to a tiered ranking system. In the report, Ireland is designated as Tier 2 for the third consecutive year after being moved from the Tier 2 watch list where it was placed in 2020 and 2021.
According to the report, Tier 2 means that a country does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but is making significant efforts to do so.
The report notes increasing efforts to meet the minimum standards in Ireland, including the adoption of a National Action Plan, opening of the first specialised accommodation for women affected by trafficking and increased funding for victim assistance and awareness-raising activities. In addition, prosecutions were initiated for the first time for labour trafficking. The government, in partnership with government-funded NGOs, provided anti-trafficking trainings to approximately 800 police, prosecutors, immigration and border officials, social workers, emergency accommodation staff, health care professionals, direct provision accommodation staff, NGOs, and private-sector hotel staff on various topics, including victim identification and trauma-informed assistance.
In 2023, 53 victims were formally identified – 28 for trafficking for the purposes of sexual exploitation; 16 for labour trafficking, including seven forced criminality and two forced begging; and nine unspecified forms of trafficking victims. This was an increase compared with 39 victims identified in 2022, 44 in 2021, 38 in 2020, and 42 in 2019, but less than 64 in 2018, 103 in 2017, and 95 in 2016. Of the victims identified, all were third country nationals; nine victims were international protection applicants; 38 were women; 10 were men; and five were children (four girls and one boy). NGOs initially identified and referred 18 of the 53 victims for formal identification.
In 2023, the Garda Síochána Human Trafficking Investigation and Coordination Unit (HTICU) reported opening 53 new investigations, an increase compared with 39 investigations in 2022 and 44 in 2021. Thirty trafficking investigations initiated in previous years remained ongoing. In 2023, prosecutors initiated two prosecutions, compared with three prosecutions in 2022 and one in 2021. Both prosecutions initiated in 2023 were for labour trafficking – Ireland’s first labour trafficking prosecutions.
The report noted challenges in the areas of prevention and protection such as deficiencies in proactive victim identification, referral and assistance and limited capacity in specialised accommodation centres. In 2017, the government reported plans to institute a new and revised National Referral Mechanism (NRM), which reportedly included proposals to expand formal victim identification by and referral from entities other than the police and allowed all victims to access the NRM without requiring cooperation with law enforcement. However, the government reported that the adoption of a revised NRM would require a legislative change, and the revision remained pending for the third consecutive year. The Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Human Trafficking) Bill 2023 which includes provisions for the referral mechanism is currently at Committee Stage of Seanad Éireann. In addition special protection measures during court proceedings were not implemented uniformly and a lack of clarity on rights and legal protections for victims was reported by NGOs.
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