Mr. Michael Quinlan:

We were afraid the discussion was going to be cut off at 4 p.m. My name is Mick Quinlan and I am the manager of the Gay Men's Health Service in the HSE and I am a qualified social worker. I have been involved in HIV and Aids and LGBT issues over 26 years. Mr. McCartney is a researcher and represents the Gay Health Network. He has worked and studied global health at TCD and is currently working with the international planned parenthood federation as HIV programme officer. We thank the committee for inviting us to this meeting. I would also like to acknowledge the attendance of the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Alan Shatter, at the conference which covered this issue last October. I was delighted he stayed for the whole day and heard directly from former and current female sex workers. It would be great if this committee could arrange a similar meeting with sex workers.

We hope the reference report we have submitted and this presentation will help provide some understanding of the complex issues with regard to commercial sex work, men who have sex with men and disabled people availing of commercial sex, dealt with in chapter 8 of the report.

We request that members take time to read the report in its entirety. As men who have sex with men and commercial sex are both taboo subjects and seldom discussed, the report is welcome.

In 1993 the law which criminalised homosexual men and that relating to the availability of condoms were both changed. These changes were the direct result of campaigning and rulings of the European courts but also the health implications relating to HIV. In 1992 the then Eastern Health Board established the Gay Men's Health Service, GMHS, which remains the only statutory service for men who have sex with men. The GMHS provides an STI clinic, counselling and support and education and prevention programmes among men who have sex with men. Over 9,000 men have registered with us, of whom some 15% reside outside County Dublin.

The GMHS is a member of the Gay Health Network, GHN, which was founded in 1994 and leads the way in HIV prevention and awareness of sexual health for men who have sex with men. The Gay Health Network runs the Man2Man campaign in partnership with the HSE. Many HIV and LGBT organisations are members of the network. Last year the Minister of State, Deputy Alex White, and the former Minister of State, Deputy Róisn Shortall, launched campaigns relating to stigma and discrimination.

In Ireland there is a high incidence of HIV and other STI infections, particularly syphilis and gonorrhoea, among men who have sex with men. In 2011 and early 2012 the health promotion surveillance committee reported that up to 40% of all new HIV infections were among men who had sex with men.

The GMHS's involvement in the area of male sex work began as part of its outreach work and contact with various agencies and groups from 1997 onwards. It helped to establish networks and produced many reports. In 2003 we made a presentation to the Hidden Stories Conference in Stockholm.

As a health and social administrator and manager, it is important to raise some of the issues concerning the introduction of new legalisation. I was going to use a large brush to highlight that a whole section of people and situations were being painted with one brush. This approach is unsustainable and misleading, especially when it seems to be portrayed that only men buy sex and that they only purchase it from women. In Ireland there are three studies highlighting that men who have sex with men buy or sell sex. We are presenting the more recent European MSM Internet survey, EMIS, which shows that there is a significant number of gay and bisexual men and men who do not identify as gay engaged in buying and selling sex in countries throughout Europe, including Ireland.