Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin North Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I am not a member of the committee but I am interested in the topic. I was attending another committee which is still sitting but I wanted to listen to this debate. I have only been here for 20 minutes and the debate has been fascinating.

I am a former principal and teacher of an inner city girls school that is in an area of acute disadvantage. One cannot introduce legislation without a cultural shift in society or educational programmes taking place. I have a sense of how young girls and young men view themselves in terms of their sexuality and sexual power. I know about the commercial pressures that are placed on children which shortens their childhood and demands them to be sexual objects before they are ready. Does that play a part in dealing with prostitution here? The delegation may have touched on the matter earlier and I apologise for going over old ground. How big a role does drugs play in leading people into the sex trade? I was a political counsellor in the inner city and I had to deal with an issue related to street prostitution. At the time the Garda suggested that a drug habit led to the huge number of young women in prostitution.

The Swedish approach seems to be the most sensible. The delegation has outlined the comparative situations in the countries that surround Sweden and it has led people to believe that the Swedish model is a good approach. However, other issues need to be tackled such as educational disadvantage, poverty, drugs and the sexualisation of young people. This is not a simple matter and I look forward to hearing the response.