The Garda and the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) have welcomed tougher people-smuggling legislation which has led to an “exponential” increase in arrests in recent years.
Almost 90 charges have been brought under the 2021 legislation, which was designed to make it easier for authorities to prosecute gangs illegally bringing people into the State, according to a post-enactment review of the Act published by the Department of Justice.
The Criminal Justice (Smuggling of Persons) Act 2021 overhauled the State’s response to people smuggling and brought the Irish system in line with UN and EU directives and protocols.
Its provisions included making it a crime to smuggle people within the State and not just across its borders. It also makes it an offence to provide people with fraudulent documents for the purposes of entering the State.
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One of the biggest changes was to remove the requirement to prove smugglers stood to gain financially from their activities.
Previously, the State had to find evidence of financial gain “which often posed a substantial challenge due to the difficulty in obtaining necessary proof such as bank records or evidence of monetary transactions”, the review states.
“Such offences can now be established using more direct forms of evidence, including witness testimony, flight details, and phone records.”
The office of the DPP said the Act “has significantly enhanced its ability to prosecute individuals involved in people smuggling”.
It reported 40 individual prosecutions between 2021 and the start of 2025, comprising 90 charges.
The majority of these charges, 68, relate to suspects accused of “assisting unlawful entry into the State”. Eighteen relate to the provision of fraudulent documents.
During the drafting of the legislation, consideration was given to exempting cases from prosecution where smuggling was carried out for humanitarian reasons.
It was decided, however, to allow this as a defence instead, meaning the claim could be tested at trial or during the prosecution process.
The DPP said this approach “has enabled the successful prosecution of offences under the Act”.
The Garda said the act has “positively impacted” the work of the Garda National Immigration Bureau, particularly at Dublin Airport.
it said the new legislation is a “significant improvement” on the previous 2000 Act and welcomed the removal of the “for gain” element of smuggling offences.
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Gardaí are also now able to investigate organised crime groups smuggling people through Ireland and into other countries. Previously they could only deal with the smuggling of people into the State at its borders.
“This has resulted in an exponential increase in the number of people-smuggling cases under investigation and the number of suspects arrested and prosecuted,” the report states.
