Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Apologies, Chair. It is a badly-behaved phone. I cannot work it.

As I say, currently this is classified as brothel-keeping. They can be penalised or a landlord can be penalised and the courts regularly hear cases where people are in that situation, having their hard-earned money taken from them, going before a court etc.

The reason we think this is incredibly important is that it is a vital safety measure for those who are currently engaged in sex work. It is much safer for sex workers to work in a familiar environment, such as their own home where they are in more control of the situation. It is also preferable if they themselves can organise their own type of security, through a friend who perhaps would vet clients or be near by, or a couple of people working together, a co-worker etc. This is a position which is supported by the World Health Organization, which calls for the decriminalisation of brothels.

At present, a brothel is defined as two or more persons sharing a premises. There is an urgent requirement to deal with this issue. If we do not address it and decriminalise this, in effect, we are forcing sex workers to work alone without support, being in much greater danger and exposed more to violence. That would be a backward step, particularly if the Bill criminalising the purchase of sex were to be passed. That makes it even more dangerous in this regard. Because of that measure, it is particularly pertinent to move these people forward now.

An analysis of convictions for brothel-keeping shows that 91% of the people convicted were sex workers. Therefore, this issue must be addressed urgently from a safety point of view.