David Cullinane (Sinn Fein)

I welcome the Minister to the House and more than that I welcome his contribution to the debate. I commend the Government amendment. The Leader said it was a conciliatory amendment but it is also action-driven which is important. My party will support the Government amendment for those reasons. The amendment commits the Government to a planned public consultation exercise, a detailed discussion paper and a report on the outcome of the consultation process will then be published. Examination of the Swedish model will form part of any review, and the consultation process will be conducted as quickly as possible. I agree with the Minister's statement that the consultation process must be, and be seen to be, objective, transparent, open-minded and fair. The motion that was tabled by the Independent Senators contains a paragraph that commits us to introducing legislation criminalising the purchase of sex in Ireland in order to curb prostitution and trafficking for sexual exploitation. If we were to support that, it would prejudice the outcome of any consultation process. I hope there will not be a vote and that we can support the very good Government amendment.

The Minister mentioned the fact that reasonable people can disagree. My party does have concerns about the Swedish model, not because of any impact it might have on people who purchase sex but because of the potential impact on people who work in the industry - I do not like using that phrase, but it is one that is often used. The Minister cited the UN report that spoke about the potential for criminalisation to backfire on sex workers and drive the whole industry further underground. There are real concerns that have been expressed not only in the 2011 UN report, but in a number of other reports that considered the Swedish model and the criminalisation model. We need to deal robustly with trafficking, which we can all agree is something that needs to be strongly challenged by the Government, with proper sanctions and enforcement. That is the area that needs the most attention, in my view. I support the Government amendment.