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Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality Frances Fitzgerald, T.D., has congratulated Professor Siobhan Mullally on her election as President of the European body dealing with action against trafficking in human beings.

Professor Mullally, of the School of Law at University College Cork and Director of the Centre for Criminal Justice and Human Rights, was elected by her peers as President of the Council of Europe's Group of Experts against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA), at their meeting on Thursday.

Professor Mullally, who is also a member of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, was first elected to GRETA in 2012, was re-elected in November 2016, and has previously served as Vice-President and most recently as Acting President of the Group.

Congratulating Professor Mullally, the Tánaiste said:

"This election recognises the expertise of Professor Siobhan Mullally in the field of human trafficking and is also testament to her extensive international experience in the wider field of migration and human rights and to her hard work as a member and more recently Vice-President of GRETA.

GRETA makes an important contribution to increasing standards for the prevention and combating of human trafficking – standards which Ireland takes very seriously - and I'm sure that Professor Mullally will provide capable and astute leadership during her tenure".

ENDS

Note to Editors:

GRETA is the monitoring mechanism set up under the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings to oversee and review the implementation of the Convention by State Parties. GRETA is composed of 15 independent and impartial experts from a variety of backgrounds. They have been elected by the Committee of the Parties for a term of office of either two or four years, renewable once, and selected from among national candidates put forward by State Parties to the Convention.

Ireland ratified the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings in July 2010 and it entered into force on the 1 November 2010. Ireland is currently undergoing its second evaluation by GRETA of implementation of that Convention, with a report due to issue later in 2017.

Further details of the functions of GRETA, and the qualifications required for membership of it, are available on the web site of the Department of Justice and Equality (www.justice.ie) and are also available on the Council of Europe website http://www.coe.int/en/web/anti-human-trafficking/home

The Tánaiste launched the Second National Action Plan to Prevent and Combat Human Traffickin in Ireland, in October 2016. The plan, together with further information on human trafficking in Ireland, is available at www.blueblindfold.gov.ie