Thurles Information

The third National Action Plan to combat human trafficking was launched today.

The Plan aims to work towards ending human trafficking in the Irish State, as a key element of building stronger, safer communities.
A number of Government Departments, including An Garda Síochána, TUSLA and the HSE will all have significant roles to play in the implementation of the Action Plan to combat this criminal activity and support victims.

Its actions will include:

• Establishment of a new National Referral Mechanism, which will make it easier for victims to come forward, be identified and access support. It will ensure that victims can come forward to a range of agencies and not just An Garda Siochana as is currently the case. This is in recognition of the fact that victims may, due to experiences in their own countries, not trust police services.
• New and widespread training for all who may come into contact with victims of human trafficking across Departments and State agencies. This will include the Border Management Unit, as well as health and social care professionals, and Civil Registration Services staff working in the HSE.
• Ongoing development of training, through NGOs, targeting front line staff in industries such as hospitality, airline and shipping who may come into contact with trafficked persons.
• Ensure effective anti-trafficking screening measures are in place at point of entry to the State
• Establish dedicated accommodation for victims of trafficking.
• Expand the funding, use and awareness of cultural mediators and accompaniment services
• Provide victims of trafficking with protection from deportation.
• Provide exit pathways for individuals impacted by prostitution who may be vulnerable to trafficking for sexual exploitation.
• Continue to raise awareness through materials available in languages of recognised victims of human trafficking, and making information available in healthcare and other settings.
• The HSE Anti Human Trafficking Team will develop an online presence for reaching vulnerable and ‘hard to reach’ victims with a view to increasing access to medical and social care services.
• Ensure that all professionals in contact with children, and working on child related matters, are qualified in dealing with and recognising victims of trafficking and act in the child’s best interest.

The ultimate goals of this Anti-Human Trafficking Strategy is to create a more victim-centred approach to identifying and supporting victims, to raise awareness and provide training for those who need it and to prevent, detect and prosecute the culprits of this abhorrent crime.

The key objectives that the Plan will aim to achieve include:

Work towards the abolishment of human trafficking and its demand.
Identify and provide supports to victims of trafficking.
Enforce the rights of the victim and bring perpetrators to justice.
Ensure whole-of-Government co-ordination in supporting victims and decreasing incidents of trafficking.

In 2022, a total of 42 victims were formally identified by An Garda Síochána. Most victims are trafficked in to the State for sexual exploitation. Trafficking for labour exploitation also makes up a significant number of victims.

A report by the Human Trafficking and Exploitation Project on the Island of Ireland published by Mary Immaculate College in Limerick in 2021 suggests that the true incidence of human trafficking in the State may be 38% higher than the official figure.

The Report was supported by the Departments of Justice in this State and Northern Ireland, as well as An Garda Síochána and the PSNI.

An Garda Síochána report that 1,000 to 1,600 women are engaged in prostitution in any one year in Ireland and that prostitution and human trafficking are inextricably linked.

In September 2021 the first convictions in Ireland for human trafficking were handed down by the Courts, and there are a number of other human trafficking investigations ongoing by An Garda Síochána.

The actions in this plan fall under four Preventative Pillars:

• Prevention of human trafficking by working towards stronger protections for vulnerable people and the elimination of the demand for the services of trafficked persons.
• Identifying and providing supports to victims of trafficking.
• Enforcing the rights of the victim and bringing perpetrators to justice.
• Support evidence-based research on human trafficking.

Already, work is underway and specific elements of this issue are being examined as part of the Government’s Zero Tolerance Strategy to combat DSGBV. A number of significant measures to create a more victim-centred approach to identifying and supporting victims and to raise awareness and provide training, have been introduced.

In addition to the new National Action Plan, other ongoing initiatives which will help combat human trafficking include the improvements being made to the Criminal Justice System to support victims through the implementation of Supporting a Victim’s Journey.

Gardaí are examining fingerprints and video footage, following a robbery on Saturday night last, October 28th, in the Ballynonty village area, near Killenaule, Thurles, Co. Tipperary.

Four cars on a property, in this area, were targeted by a male wearing a grey tracksuit pants, a black hoodie and a black jacket.
A female and owner of the property was at home at the time, latter caring for her children, one of which has special needs, and was unaware of the robbery of her own car and that of her daughters, until the following morning.

Amongst the property stolen where extremely sentimental items, which previously had belonged to a recently deceased parent, latter who passed away on October 13th last.
Also stolen was a substantial sum of cash, the victims handbag, which included a purse containing her wages, credit cards, medical cards, perfume and her sons necessary medical requirements.
Stolen from the second vehicle were Christmas presents, a new car amplifier valued at €400 and a car battery.

According to CCTV footage the intruder was initially scared off; observed running away across the main road, due to the fact that the owner entered the yard of their home, during heavy rain, to obtain fuel for the families cooker.
Same footage shows the criminal seated in the victim’s car for a duration of same 8 to 10 mins, as he searched, while using a lighter to view through everything; having carefully switching off interior car lights. He can be observed climbing into the back seat, and pulling down the middle seat to gain access to the rear boot.

On being disturbed by the owner, the criminal returned later to the scene of his crime, before stealing all of the items from her daughters car.

Similar robberies have been recently reported in the areas of Urlingford and Thurles town with a thief or thieves searching cars.

Thurles Gardaí are now appealing to anyone in may have been in the Ballynonty / Killenaule, area between 8:45pm and 9:45pm and who may have dashcam footage or other information, to please make contact, Tel: 0504-25100 or Email: CT.TipperaryCentral.CE@Garda.ie.

A range of new criminal offences, as well as tougher sentences for existing offences, come into effect from today, November 1st 2023.

These offences include measures targeting violent and organised crime, violence against Gardaí and other emergency service workers, together with landmark measures to support victims and punish perpetrators of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence.

These new laws and tougher sentences mark a milestone in efforts to build stronger, safer communities and demonstrate zero Tolerance of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence.

From today, under the Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2023:

• The maximum sentence for assault causing harm, a common offence in domestic abuse cases as well as in other assaults, increases from five years to ten years.
• The scope of the existing harassment offence is widened to include any conduct that seriously interferes with a person’s peace and privacy, or causes alarm, distress or harm.
• A new standalone offence of stalking, with a maximum sentence of up to ten years, is created and now in effect.
• A standalone offence of non-fatal strangulation or non-fatal suffocation with a maximum sentence of up to ten years, and a standalone offence of non-fatal strangulation or non-fatal suffocation causing serious harm with a maximum sentence of up to life imprisonment, often indicators of further, potentially lethal violence against a woman, are created and in effect.
• The maximum sentence for assaulting or threatening to assault a Garda or other on duty emergency workers increases from 7 to 12 years.
• The maximum sentence for conspiracy to murder increases from the current penalty of 10 years to life imprisonment to further toughen the laws around gangland crime.

The Act also introduces a range of provisions that will provide better protection for Gardaí and strengthen the laws designed to tackle serious and organised crime.

These include:

• Increasing the maximum sentence for assaulting or threatening to assault a police officer from 7 to 12 years. The increase in maximum sentence will apply where the assault in question is against an on duty Garda or emergency service worker, such as hospital staff, prison officers, members of the fire brigade, ambulance personnel or members of the Defence Forces.
• Increasing the maximum sentence for conspiracy to murder from the current penalty of 10 years to life imprisonment. The maximum sentence for conspiracy to murder has been set at 10 years since 1861. It is used when two or more people form a plan to murder another person but are stopped before they can carry it out.