Mary Immaculate College Limerick, reveals the reality of Human Trafficking in Ireland- in report launched 28 April 2021.

A new report from researchers at Mary Immaculate College (MIC) has examined the true scale of human trafficking on the island of Ireland, illustrating that there are substantially more victims of human trafficking in Ireland than are officially recorded with the authorities. Data collated for the Human Trafficking and Exploitation Project on the Island of Ireland (HTEPII), led by MIC, has shown that the number of adults and children trafficked onto the island of Ireland between 2014 and 2019 is at least 38% higher in the Republic of Ireland and 20% higher in Northern Ireland than has been officially recorded by authorities north and south. This new data represents an increase of 132 victims on top of an official count of 346 victims in the Republic of Ireland and an increase of 54 victims on top of an official count of 268 victims in Northern Ireland over a six-year period. Of these, 89 minors were officially recorded. New data from the HTEPII has also uncovered an additional 12 minors which have not been recorded by authorities in either jurisdiction.

The HTEPII project led by a team of MIC researchers, including principal investigators, Professor Michael Breen and Professor Michael Healy, and principal researcher, Dr Amy Healy, was supported by a Project Executive Board chaired by Kevin Hyland OBE with input from senior personnel in An Garda Sióchána, the Police Service of Northern Ireland, the Irish Department of Justice, and the Department of Justice in Northern Ireland, as well as other experts in the field.

Report available at: https://www.mic.ul.ie/research/research-at-mic/research-projects/human-trafficking-exploitation-project-island-ireland?index=0