Ireland criticized again in US annual human trafficking report

THE 2024 Human Trafficking Report The US State Department continues to classify Ireland as a “Tier 2” country, meaning that it “does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking, but is making significant efforts to achieve this.

The United Kingdom, Germany and France are among the 33 countries classified as “level 1”.

The report's section on Ireland acknowledges “generally increasing efforts compared to the previous reporting period”, including the launching of the first labor trafficking prosecutions in the state and the conviction of more large number of traffickers under laws prohibiting trafficking.

However, the report notes that Ireland has yet to secure a conviction for labor trafficking and says the state has tended to rely on prosecuting traffickers under “statutes of non-trafficking which may sometimes have resulted in inadequate sanctions.”

It also highlighted “systemic deficiencies in the identification, referral and assistance of victims”, including Ireland's failure to implement the revised National Referral Mechanism (NRM). .

“The government did not report providing any specific training on trafficking to any judge and has never provided restitution or compensation to any victims,” the report added.