Legislation on the trafficking of women for sexual exploitation is not expected to come before the Dáil this year, Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism John O'Donoghue said.
However, a Bill is at an advanced stage, and is expected to be published later this year.
Mr O'Donoghue pointed out that while trafficking was not explicitly provided for under Irish law, a range of offences linked to "any trafficking activity" could be prosecuted under existing legislation.
The Minister was responding in the Dáil to Labour leader Pat Rabbitte who asked whether the Government would introduce legislation to prevent the trafficking of women for sex, "to prevent the type of disgraceful scenes we saw depicted on a very good example of public service broadcasting by [ RTÉ] Prime Time during the week". Taking the Order of Business in the absence of the Taoiseach, Mr O'Donoghue said the legislation being prepared "will create a specific offence of trafficking human beings into, through or out of Ireland for the purposes of their sexual and labour exploitation".
At an advanced stage of preparation, "it will provide for compliance with two EU framework decisions on trafficking and will also take account of several United Nations and Council of Europe instruments in this area".
Meanwhile, during an adjournment debate Minister for Justice Michael McDowell said that according to Garda intelligence "there is no evidence to suggest that trafficking of persons into Ireland for the purposes of sexual exploitation is widespread", and that relatively few trafficking cases had been uncovered.
He said that in a recent UN report Trafficking in Persons: Global Patterns, Ireland ranked at the low end of destination or transit countries in western Europe. "We are, however, still at risk," he acknowledged.
Mr McDowell rejected that the "impression may have been given over recent days that a legislative vacuum existed in this country which gives traffickers carte blanche to pursue their evil trade here. Nothing could be further from the truth." He repeated that "we have extensive criminal law provisions which can be used depending on the circumstances of each case that comes to the notice of the Garda".
Ciaran Cuffe (Greens, Dún Laoghaire), who raised the issue, said Ireland had failed to transpose into law the 2002 EU Council framework decision on combating trafficking in human beings, the deadline for which was August 2004.
"Ireland is the only EU member state not to do so." He called for the legislation to be "victim-sensitive" and to "punish only the traffickers, similar to the Swedish legislation". It was "vital that the victims of trafficking are not treated as criminals".
Mr Cuffe added that the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women was "concerned at the trafficking of women and girls into Ireland, the lack of information on the extent of the problem and of specific legislation in this area and the lack of a comprehensive strategy to combat it".
Mr McDowell said that as the RTÉ documentary had shown "in all cases of trafficking, other offences will be committed such as rape, sexual assault, assault and false imprisonment. A person cannot be trafficked into Ireland for the purposes of prostitution without the commission of an offence".
