Criminal gangs in the UK are taking advantage of “vulnerable” migrants by tricking them into paying for false offers of work in the Republic of Ireland according to Independent TD Michael McNamara.
Speaking in Leinster House today, McNamara raised the case of a young Indian man who had entered the UK on a student visa but ended up having his passport taken by a criminal gang after falling for a fake promise of work in Dublin.
McNamara said that the man’s student visa allows him to work for 10 hours a week only, and that he had hoped to find more work leading him to approach an agency in London he believed would help him secure a position.
“[H]e went to an agency in the United Kingdom who told him that they could get him full employment permission in Ireland and arrange travel and a work permit. They took £1,500 sterling from him and retained his passport so that he would pay an additional £1,000 when he started work.”
McNamara said that the criminal gang arranged for the man to travel to Liverpool and from there on a ferry to Belfast from where he traveled to Dublin.
“He was given the eircode and the postal address of his employer, and he turned up there and it was the IPO office in Dublin,” he said, adding that the man “obviously” didn’t know that he was being sent to the IPO office.
McNamara said that this man was one of five traveling in a similar way, organized by the same agents and that the man says he knows of 30 more people sent to Ireland by the same agency in the same way.
“He’s now in Ireland. He’s trying to get out of the asylum system and return back to the United Kingdom. He doesn’t have his passport.” said McNamara adding that it was “very clear that vulnerable people in a precarious position are being horribly exploited by bad actors” but that it was “equally clear that our state is being exploited by those bad actors” as well.
He accused the government of engaging in a “Punch and Judy show” with UK authorities over the border with Northern Ireland asking “what hope there is” of international cooperation to resolve the issue.
He warned that if one such agency existed in London, due to the nature of “the underworld” it was likely that there were many such others also operating in London.
In response Taoiseach Simon Harris said that the government response to instances of human trafficking was “to pass the human trafficking bill.”
“We did see the human trafficking bill, I believe, passed in the Dáil in recent days. And now moving forward into the Seanad,”,
He said this would make it “easier for victims of trafficking” to come forward, to be identified, and to access supports.
The Taoiseach said the passing of the law “shows how serious this country on a legislative basis wants to take the issue of human trafficking” saying that the issue is “indeed extremely important”.
He added that progress in relation to Ireland’s rating in the Trafficking in Persons Report had improved slightly, but added that this was “nothing to write home about”.
“We have a lot of work to do in relation to this situation, but we did see in 2022 some positive progress made in relation to that.”
Harris said that he felt that between the legislation Minister for Justice Helen McEntee is bringing forward and the human trafficking strategy that he was confident that steps were being taken to tackle the issue and that the Indian man in question and others like him should rest assured that anyone “seeking to exploit Ireland” should know “this is an issue we will take and do take extraordinarily seriously”.
He added that there was a “very significant collaboration” between An Garda Síochána, Europol, Interpol and the UK Police in regards to human trafficking.
Last March, Dr. Matt Treacy highlighted “serious questions” about the trafficking of children in Ireland.
On this platform he wrote, “The Liberties Rule of Law annual report, published this week, highlighted an “impunity and/or lack of accountability for human rights violations” as a problem specific to Ireland. The leading civil liberties network pointed to Ireland’s “widespread human rights violations” and/or “persistent protection failures” regarding children.
The report referenced a December 2023 investigation by Noteworthy which found that 62 asylum-seeking children had disappeared from State care after arriving in Ireland alone.”
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