Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Dr. Whitaker is one of the few voices we have heard who is arguing for the existing system so it is important we give her as much time as possible to go through these issues.

When the committee was in Sweden, we read the criticisms of the Swedish system, including research by the Sex Workers Alliance Ireland and others. The most particular criticism is that the Swedish system drives prostitution further underground. When we met with the Swedish justice committee, the Swedish police and social workers, we put that to every one of them, playing the role of devil's advocate. All of them replied that prostitution by its very nature is underground but to sell "the commodity" it must be marketed, it must be put on a website. Even though we talk about driving it underground, the seller of the commodity must market it to sustain a business. There must be advertising of sex workers on a website to invite customers. Their response, particularly from a policing perspective, was that this is never truly underground, even if efforts are made to be covert, because there must be open marketing. What does the alliance make of that analysis?

We have heard the point that not every sex worker has been trafficked or coerced, there are those who choose and who wish to continue working in that industry. A social worker at the coal face who appeared before us and who has dealt with hundreds of women in this situation, told us that almost all the women she was working with on an exit strategy did not want to remain in prostitution. Very few wanted to remain working in the sex industry. Obviously a small number wanted to remain and that is the cohort Dr. Whitaker is advocating for.

In Ireland, there are groups who work at the coal face with victims of prostitution: domestic violence groups, immigrant groups and trade unions. This plethora of organisations has given evidence that in the vast majority of cases this is damaging to the women and men in this situation. Our Swedish counterparts told us that we cannot legislate for the minority the alliance advocates for, we must legislate for the majority, we must look at the bigger picture to protect those who do not wish to continue. What would the Sex Workers Alliance Ireland say to the argument that has been put to us that we cannot legislate for a small group when there is damage to a wider group?