Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 12 December 2012

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality

Review of Legislation on Prostitution: Discussion

4:40 pm

Ms Maeve Lewis:

The sex offenders who attend One in Four have sexually offended against children and, therefore, would not necessarily be sexually attracted to prostitution. Approximately 10% of the people who attend that programme have regularly used prostitution. However, among our male and female clients who have been victims of sexual abuse, male clients are more likely to have ended up in prostitution. This is an interesting point which needs to be explored further. On the question of a sex addict as opposed to a sex offender, these are very different matters in that somebody who is a sex addict may be having sex with other consenting adults within the law in a way that would be considered perfectly appropriate in our society, and not necessarily with prostitutes.