Human trafficking ‘in every village and town’, says Cork head of Garda National Protective Services Bureau

THE evidence of human trafficking can be clearly seen everywhere in Ireland, the head of the Garda National Protective Services Bureau has said.

“Human trafficking is big, big business, and it’s in every village, in every town, every townland. It’s in your face,” detective chief superintendent Colm Noonan said.

Det chief supt Noonan is the head of the Garda National Protective Services Bureau, having served previously in Dublin, Templemore, and Anglesea Street, and as superintendent in Midleton and Gurranabraher.

In an interview with The Echo, the Fermoy native spoke about the bureau’s work in combating human trafficking.

“We have the only human trafficking investigation and co-ordination unit for An Garda Síochána,” said chief supt Noonan.

“That’s an operational unit and they are out targeting and investigating the organised crime gangs that are bringing people into Ireland for either labour exploitation, sexual exploitation or for criminal purposes, and organ exploitation. Their lives are controlled, their passports are taken, their bank accounts are controlled, they have no freedom of movement, they have no way of escaping. But there are employers at the back of it,” he said.

Chief Supt Noonan said there was no question that there are Irish companies who have employees who have been trafficked from eastern Europe or from further afield for the purpose of labour exploitation.

“Tied into that is the work of the organised prostitution investigation unit, who are out there working to try and identify the brothel- keepers, the gangs that are bringing women in, predominately from eastern Europe, 99% of the women coming in are Romanian, and they’re being moved from apartment to house to hotel around the country and around the UK and Northern Ireland for the purpose of sex work and then being moved on again.” Chief Supt Noonan said the bureau was working closely with Romanian police.

“Romania is extremely poor, with a huge amount of small villages, and girls just go missing. You can have some villages in Romania where 80% of all girls and young women are missing, and they’ve been trafficked for the purposes of sexual exploitation.

He said that any one time there are about 800 women selling sex in Ireland, and victims of human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation have no control over their own existence, effectively being modern slaves.

“There are organised crime gangs which are trafficking and bringing women in and hiring the house and moving women on and taking in the money and having them live in shocking conditions and then expected to have sex with eight, nine, 10, 12 men a day,” he said.

“It’s a horrendous existence.”