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Vietnamese nationals are being trafficked into Ireland to work in the sex industry or nail bars, one expert has claimed.

The UK’s former Anti-Slavery Commissioner Kevin Hyland insisted more needs to be done to “stem the flow” of migrants.

The National Referral Mechanism said 887 Vietnamese nationals were suspected of being trafficked into the UK last year – out 10,627 people in total.

Mr Hyland, who represents Ireland to the Council of Europe’s Independent Group of Experts for Trafficking, has asked what is being done in relation to these cases.

He said: “How much of the circumstances have been properly explored, assessed and acted upon?

“So what is actually being done to stem this, to make this a crime where you just don’t do it, because the consequences are just too great?

Mr Hyland said Vietnamese people are being trafficked into Ireland for the purpose of working in the sex industry, nail bars or in some other form of slave labour.

And the coronavirus means trafficked migrant workers here are potentially even more vulnerable.

Criminals are taking advantage of the pandemic by looking to new markets, while victims here are at risk of contracting Covid-19.

Mr Hyland, who lives in Co Limerick, said: “With this pandemic, the risk to migrant workers and particularly people who may not have rights or understand the system, or may be in some form of detention or direct provision has increased enormously.

“And the criminals already, as we can see in some parts of the world, are working on that.

The number of migrant workers are reducing [in some areas] and therefore there are certain areas where it is believed there is a bigger marketplace now for very vulnerable people to be exploited.

“These people have no access to healthcare. They very often have no access to justice, they have no access to lawyers.”

Meanwhile, last Tuesday 25-year-old lorry driver Maurice Robinson from Craigavon, Co Armagh, pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of 39 people who were found dead in a refrigerated truck in Essex on October 23, 2019.

He had previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration and acquiring criminal property and the prosecutor said a human trafficking conspiracy charge was being dropped in relation to Robinson and a co-accused.