AT LEAST 50 foreign nationals have been trafficked into the Republic for forced labour in the past six years, according to new research.
Preliminary findings of a study being carried out by the Irish School of Ecumenics at Trinity College Dublin also show that victims included Bangladeshis, Pakistanis, Egyptians and Filipinos, and that catering, manufacturing and domestic work were among the sectors where the practice arose.
The figures were compiled from case files held by support groups, trade unions and other bodies. Presenting their research at a seminar on the topic in Dublin yesterday, Dr Gillian Wylie and Deirdre Coghlan said their data - showing at least 50 cases were recorded since 2002 - gave a conservative estimate of the problem.
Of 46 people recorded by the Migrant Rights Centre of Ireland as having been trafficked for forced labour between July 2005 and December 2007, the largest number (18) came from Bangladesh. Eight came from Pakistan, four each from Egypt and the Philippines, two each from Malawi, India and Moldova, and one each from Peru, Poland, Thailand, Morocco, Russia and Zimbabwe.
The sectors involved were hotel and catering, manufacturing, agriculture, the domestic home, construction and the circus.
A new law in June made the trafficking of adults and children for labour or sexual exploitation illegal. It also criminalised the use of services of victims of trafficking.
A separate regulation entitles trafficking victims to a 45-day "recovery and reflection" period, with any extension dependent on co-operation with the Garda.
While there was now considerable political momentum against trafficking in Ireland, said Dr Wylie, "the paradox is that by formalising a definition of the trafficked who may receive limited protection may leave many people who are in need of protection without any.
"Our research shows there are many grey areas between trafficking as it is strictly defined in Irish legislation and regular employment. Deceived people may have been moved across borders but not be exploited in the end. Undocumented immigrants may become so through no fault of their own," she said.
"Smuggled people may be horribly exploited but not deemed fit for protection because of the way they entered the State."
Dr Wylie said the majority of migrant workers experiencing difficulties in Ireland existed at different points along a "continuum of exploitation". This posed the question of whether enacting a strict definition of trafficking would create "hierarchies of victims, separating those deemed to be trafficked and therefore deserving of protection from those who, despite experiencing exploitation, are by contrast 'illegal' and deportable," she said.