48 people were trafficked into Ireland last year almost half of whom were children.

This is down from 57 in 2011 and 78 in 2010. 

Preliminary government anti-trafficking figures for 2012 show that the vast majority of the alleged victims were subjected to sexual exploitation.

The Immigrant Council of Ireland fears many more cases of trafficking are going undetected and is calling on the government to make this issue a priority.

Yesterday a report on Ireland's role in combating human trafficking criticised the very low rate of prosecutions here, as well as the length of criminal proceedings.

The report from GRETA, the Council of Europe's expert body on trafficking, believes that the overwhelming majority of the victims were foreign nationals primarily from Africa (especially Nigeria), but also from other European countries, Asia and Latin America.

It found that gaps in the formal identification procedure the low rate of prosecutions mean that the official figures may underestimate the true scale of the problem.