The Garda Commissioner has said people have been identified running organised crime groups trafficking people across the border.
Commissioner Justin Kelly said that gardaí have had "many successes particularly in the last year" where they have "identified the people running these groups, that are making money out of this".
Speaking at a cross-border conference in Cavan on organised crime, he also said operations with the PSNI are ongoing.
The Commissioner said the Gardai have a number of joint operations with the PSNI and a garda embedded full time with UK Border Force in Belfast.
Commissioner Kelly said gardaí had identified a number of individuals involved in cross-border people trafficking and Operation Sonnet had been set up to tackle the issue.
At the same conference Minister for Justice Jim O'Callaghan said the number of people coming across the border from Northern Ireland to claim international protection in Dublin remained at "a very high rate".
Government figures show that between two and three hundred people apply for protection here every week.
He said between 87-90% of the applications being made to the International Protection Office this year appeared to be entering the country from across the border. Last year's figure was 88%.
He also said it was "very difficult" to resolve the issue when there is an open border.
Danger of radicalisation and anti-migrant terrorism
Over two hundred Gardai, PSNI, revenue and other cross border law enforcement agencies met behind closed doors at the conference in Cavan today, with anti-migrant violence fuelled by misinformation and radicalisation on social media as issues of major concern.
The Garda Commissioner and the Chief Constable of the PSNI have said they are very concerned about the radicalisation of young people online and the threat from anti-migrant terrorism.
Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly said while the numbers were quite small, the individuals were very motivated and An Garda Síochána had intervened in a number of cases.
PSNI Chief Constable Jon Boutcher said misinformation on social media was driving much of the criminality and disorder.
The cross-border conference on organised crime was also addressed by Stormont Justice Minister Naomi Long.
