Ms Sarah Benson:

It is currently a criminal offence to advertise prostitution. Until now, case law, as it has been tested in Ireland, has pertained only to printed media. However, given that everything is now done via the Internet, trying to regulate the Internet would raise major cross-jurisdictional and international issues. There is case law to indicate that advertising on the Internet that is targeted at a specific jurisdiction may constitute the advertising and publication of material that is prohibited in this State. We recommend updating the penalties attached to this very old legislation, which are currently a non-custodial sentence and a fine of up to €10,000. The largest prostitution website operating in Ireland is conservatively estimated to net €10,000 per day. Certain more current legislation provides for penalties of up to €10 million. If such a penalty were attached to legislation, it could put a dent in profits.