OPTIONS ranging from the legalisation of the adult sex trade to the criminalisation of prostitution will be under consideration when oral submissions from various groups aligned to the Turn off the Red Light (TORL) campaign, including Limerick’s Doras Luimni, will be made to the Oireachtas Justice Committee this week.
Last summer, the Department of Justice prepared a discussion document seeking written submissions from groups, both for and against criminalisation. Over 1000 submissions were received and the public hearing process began in December and is to continue again later this month.
Doras Luimni is one of 63 groups aligned to TORL and they are calling for the strongest possible message to be delivered to Government that the people of Limerick want to see an end to trafficking, prostitution and activities associated with the sex trade.
With local authorities, including Chambers Ireland, Limerick city and county councils, backing the calls to make the paying for sex in Ireland illegal, Doras Luimni claims that policy changes would seriously impinge the flow of trafficked women into the sex trade operated by criminal gangs from both Ireland and Europe.
Referring to changes made in Swedish law, they state that the sex trade in Sweden has diminished and there is a marked reductions in the levels of trafficking.
In their submission to the Oireachtas Committee, Patricia Stapleton of Doras Luimni said that they are concerned with the high numbers of migrant women engaged in on-street and organised prostitution in Limerick, largely controlled by pimps acting with relative impunity.
“We are also concerned with the lack of support services available to the women in terms of providing for their health needs as well as offering support to exit prostitution.”
In a call to tackle the legislation, Doras Luimni maintains that while the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 1993 created barriers to profiting from and controlling prostitution, the reality is that the law criminalised prostituted women and continues to do so disproportionately to men who are mostly profiting from prostitution. “
Diane Kelly, an anti-trafficking officer with TORL, said that the project has made huge strides in the past few years and the end goal is to have suitable legislation in place to combat trafficking and the supply of women to the sex trade. Tackling demand, she says, is key.
She described the consultation process as a very welcome format to address the matter.
“It’s getting worse. Many more women are being trafficked that we don’t know about. The figures we have are just the tip of the iceberg”, she said.
