14 FACE TRIAL OVER SEXUAL EXPLOITATION OF CHILDREN

Courts service figures for 2021/22 are released

FOURTEEN people were sent to trial for over 270 counts of sexually exploiting a child in 2021, it’s emerged.

The stark new Courts service figures were released to Social Democrats’ co-leader Catherine Murphy following a parliamentary question.

The response has caused the Kildare North TD to express concerns about how court data is stored and maintained.

Ms Murphy asked then-justice Minister Heather Humphreys in December 2022 for the number of successful convictions obtained under the Criminal Justice (Human Trafficking) Act in the years 2021 and to date in 2022.

The question was referred to the Courts Service.

VIOLENCE

It confirmed to Ms Murphy that in 2021, 14 people were sent forward for trial on 272 counts of sexually exploiting a child.

Between January 2022 and October 2022, five people were sent for trial on eight counts of the same offence.

The Courts Service noted that a “person may be sent forward for more than one offence”.

In 2021, one person was sent forward for trial on two counts of trafficking an adult, while three people were sent to trial for eight counts of attempting to sexually exploit a child.

In total, 18 people were sent to trial for 282 offences under the

Human Trafficking Act in 2021, while eight people were sent for trial for 12 offences between January and October 2022.

Ms Murphy explained to the Irish Mirror that she asked the question after the Government approved the publication of the General Scheme of the Criminal Justice (Sexual Offences and

Human Trafficking) Bill 2022. This Bill will strengthen laws on consent in rape cases and support victims in sexual violence and human trafficking cases.

Ms Murphy said that for the new legislation to be effective, “we need to have robust systems” so that people are “detected and prosecuted”. However, she said that she was concerned as the Courts Service advised that the system used in the Circuit Courts “cannot produce reports for specific offences”.

It also noted that it cannot provide details of cases if prosecutors did not record crimes under the proper codes on the system.