The Immigrant Council of Ireland has called for the appointment of an independent national rapporteur to deal with human trafficking into Ireland.

Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Denise Charlton Chief Executive of the Immigrant Council of Ireland, said 19 victims of sex trafficking were supported by the Immigrant Council in 2014.

The Council represented the women as an Independent Law Centre and in nine cases successfully secured greater protections and supports – the others remain pending.

Women from countries across the world accessed the services of the Immigrant Council, however more than half of those supported were from Nigeria.

The Council is seeking a number of measures to deal with trafficking and prostitution.

Ms Charlton welcomed Government moves to deal with issue through the forthcoming sexual offenses bill and a national action plan, but said further action was needed.

“We’d like to see what we call an anti-trafficking Czar, which is a national rapporteur. Again our international obligations encourage the Government to have this independent monitoring mechanism.

“It’s worked really effectively in other countries and their independent monitoring mechanism through a rapporteur reports independently to the parliament and that has made a big difference in the numbers that are getting positive outcomes,” she said.