Ireland still hasn't switched on the trafficking-victim referral system its 2024 law created, and child victims keep going unidentified, the national rapporteur found.
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In a report published September 23, 2026, the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, acting as Ireland's National Rapporteur on Trafficking in Human Beings, found child trafficking 'remains significantly under-identified' and that the part of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Human Trafficking) Act 2024 creating a statutory National Referral Mechanism 'has not yet been commenced as of June 2026'. Ireland identified no child trafficking victims in 2020 or 2021, five a year in 2022 and 2023, 10 in 2024 and 18 in 2025, about 16% of all victims against an EU average of 19%; children involved in crime are not routinely screened as possible victims, and children in State care and unaccompanied minors face heightened protection gaps. The Commission called on the government to operationalise the statutory NRM 'without further delay'.
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