Mick McCarron, from Collon, Co Louth, told the Irish Independent that the issue is more common than one might think, and drivers must always keep an eye on their lorry while travelling through European, Irish and UK ports.
These checks must all be done while the driver also needs to prioritise their rest and sometimes leave their trucks unattended, where problems can occur.
However, he fears that blaming ordinary hauliers is not “getting to the root of the problem”, as criminal gangs are behind much of the trafficking.
“Nine times out of ten”, the drivers wouldn’t even have been aware they were carrying migrants, he said.
Gardaí this week launched a human trafficking investigation after 14 undocumented migrants were found in a refrigerated container that arrived in Rosslare Europort.
There are more than 17,000 ship movements in and out of Dublin every year. This equates to almost 50 each day.
Since Brexit, traffic flows through Rosslare Port increased by 45pc, as 12 sailings a week from all Irish ports to the continent increased to six a day.
Mr McCarron said that when drivers are picking up in popular ports like Calais in France, if it’s a refrigerated trailer, it’s already sealed.
The driver hands in their book, hooks in the trailer, and this is not opened until they’ve arrived at the destination.
Another concern is migrants climbing on top of the lorry and into their air vent cavity. Mr McCarron said France can be “lethal” for these types of occurrences.
“Any of those ports where drivers are coming from the UK or Ireland, there are people literally just lining the streets,” he said.
“I’ve heard of drivers sitting in traffic, and there have been people climbing on top of the lorries; it’s just crazy.
“With these instances, you need to nearly stop again before you come into the port and check absolutely everything on the trailer, around the cab, and underneath the wheel axles.
“This is how desperate people are and how the situation is,” he added.
Mr McCarron also spoke about the 14 people in Rosslare, saying it must have been “frightening” for them.
“It’s complete darkness in there; there’s no light unless you switch it on from the cab,” he said.
A whole list of checks is done on truck drivers coming back into Ireland at all ports, including driving through a tunnel with sensors.
Customs can pull lorries at random, giving the trailer and cab “a good search” and putting trained dogs inside them. They can also use probes to pick up carbon dioxide to judge if there are people in the trailers.
“People can try to hide where they get into the trailer, but it’s not that easy,” Mr McCarron said. “Drivers should be more than likely able to pick up on these things.
“But we really need to find the big hitters behind these operations and trace them back.”
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