I second the amendment.

I second the amendment.

I second the amendment.

I second the amendment.

I echo everything that Senator Higgins has said. Under the 2002 EU directive, the facilitator of entry and transit does not need to have obtained any financial benefit from smuggling in order for it to be considered a crime. However, Article 6.1 of the protocol requires that the act be for financial gain or other material benefit. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime has gone further and stated that the financial and material benefit element of the crime is a key component of the international definition. I…

I second the amendment.

I second the amendment.

I second the amendment.

I second the amendment.

The most basic entitlement that people deserve and which this Bill seeks to protect is to be treated with respect and dignity. This starts with the training of the people who will be the first responders to anybody who enters this country. The Council of Europe's Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings, GRETA, committee recently recommended that Irish authorities ensure their front-line staff involved in the identification of victims of trafficking should be provided with regular training and…

I second the amendment.

I second the amendment.

I thank the Minister for being in the Chamber today during what is a very busy week for the Government. I was pleased to note in yesterday's budget an increase in the funding to be made available to the Child and Family Agency. I look forward to hearing more from the Minister's Department as to where these additional resources will be specifically allocated. Last week I spoke in the Seanad on the challenges faced by Irish care leavers in the transition into further education. It is very important that we speak abou…

I thank the Minister for his encouraging response about the working group and the report he expects it to provide by the end of the year. I always see things in the flip-reverse. We sometimes put cost forward as a barrier because we look at the cost involved in the short term. It is always good to keep in our frame of thinking the cost of not taking a particular action. When one begins to measure the latter, then the cost of taking an action always seems so much smaller than the cost of not taking the action. I am …

I thank the Minister of State for being in the Chamber. I always find this time of year particularly difficult to comment on and I usually sit down, read the budget and try to make sense of it and understand it. I then try to break down the figures and comment on this million euro or that percentage. To be honest, every time I do that I give up and I have to go back to people's lives and to what is behind them. Since I started paying attention to the budget as a young mother, it has become a big event every year. I…

I also wish to pay my respects to Tom Burke. I remember starting in politics and him making me walk out and back in repeatedly. Whatever type of embarrassment I first felt in front of a camera, he definitely wore it off me after a few of those struts up and down. I want to speak about care leavers. Returning to the Chamber this week ahead of the budget, I cannot help but think of many young people across the country who are also returning to further education in the last few weeks, or beginning their journey in it …

I move amendment No. 1: In page 6, between lines 8 and 9, to insert the following: “ “humanitarian assistance” means the provision of services that help migrants to access their fundamental rights (including to health care, shelter, hygiene and legal assistance) and to live with dignity, or any action guided by the principles of humanity, solidarity, impartiality and independence;”. I welcome the Minister of State. While it may not be apparent as we stand here today in the Chamber, the language used in this Bill ha…

I will press the amendment.

I move amendment No. 2: In page 6, between lines 26 and 27, to insert the following: " "smuggling of people" means the procurement, in order to obtain, directly or indirectly a financial or other material benefit, of the illegal entry of a person into a state party of which the person is not a national or a permanent resident;". This also relates to the definitions in the Bill. One of the key issues of the Bill is the lack of precision in its use of language. This lack of precision ultimately leads to vulnerable pe…

I move amendment No. 3: In page 7, between lines 10 and 11, to insert the following: "Rights and protections of smuggled persons 5. The State shall ensure that all its functions carried out under this Act are in a manner consistent with— (a) the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, and (b) the European Convention on Human Rights.". This amendment relates to the rights and protections of smuggled persons. As noted by my Civil Engagement Group colleague, Senator Black, on Second Stage last week, the Co…