Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Trafficking is a separate area. We are adamant there should be greater enforcement to prevent trafficking. We are discussing a separate area today. This legislation will not address the problems of trafficking. We need stronger enforcement of existing laws to ensure trafficking is diminished. We are arguing about what is happening here and there and obviously do not agree. There have been many interpretations of what happens elsewhere.

The Northern Ireland Minister of Justice commissioned independent research from Queen's University that dismissed the Swedish model and found agreement among sex workers and the PSNI that criminalising the purchase of sex would drive prostitution underground, endanger the lives and health of sex workers, including a significant male transgender minority, increase the involvement of organised crime, increase the social stigma of sex workers and divert police resources away from sex-trafficking investigations.

Did the Tánaiste or her Department consider commissioning independent research in the Republic of Ireland at any stage? Surely it would have been interesting to see what could have been learned from it? The argument cannot be made that we would not learn anything from it. We have been speaking with many of the sex workers and we are getting a very different view to what the Tánaiste is presenting in respect of what is happening. They are adamant that this will make their work less secure.

There are plenty of people involved with prostitution who would prefer to make a living from doing something else. There are some who are happy to make a living at it but some would like to get out. How much direct help are we giving them? The Tánaiste has argued they are being helped by the money being given to Ruhama but I suggest that we give money to the people involved, many of whom are single parents. They need direct help and perhaps we should think about how best to help them with funding of one kind or another, particularly if they would like to get out of the industry and make a living somewhere else. I do not know of any direct help that they are getting but it should certainly be considered. Unfortunately, the authorities in Northern Ireland did not accept the recommendations of their own independent commission investigation, going against the Minister for Justice there, who was opposed to criminalising the purchase of sex. The Police Service of Northern Ireland, PSNI, was against it as well but, sadly, the Northern Ireland Executive decided to go against advice and went down a different route.