Dr. Teresa Whitaker:

It is very difficult to police prostitution. Many of the sex workers with whom I speak have the telephone numbers of their regular customers recorded in their mobile telephones. In the event that the purchase of sex is criminalised, how will the Garda find the customers? Given that this is a private transaction between two consenting adults, how would the Garda police it? How does it police the advertising of sexual services by women on the Internet? Prostitution is, by its nature, a clandestine activity but one that takes place in the public sphere once it is advertised on the Internet and so forth.

In terms of legislating for a minority, why was prostitution decriminalised in New Zealand, Queensland and other parts of the world? The authorities in the regions and countries in question obviously did not believe only a minority was involved and they clearly believed it was safer to decriminalise it. It is interesting to note that since decriminalisation pimps are largely absent from the sex industry in New Zealand. Women have kicked out the male managers who previously managed brothels because they no longer needed them when prostitution was decriminalised. They run the brothels themselves and there is less evidence of pimping in New Zealand. There is no doubt that prostitution is an emotional topic.