Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)

I will try to avoid repeating the comments of previous speakers except to state that I support amendments Nos. 4, 14 and 15. This pertains to using the law to target demand and to inform people that using or paying for the sexual services of a trafficked person is a crime. As legislators, Members should not rely on the moral conscience of the nation to deal with this issue. A statement in law should be made to the effect that it is a crime to pay for sex with someone who has been trafficked and is being exploited.

Any voluntary organisation that works with prostitutes such as Ruhama, which was mentioned earlier by Deputy O'Rourke, or the Sexual Violence Centre, Cork, formerly known as the Rape Crisis Centre, will confirm that increasing numbers of prostitutes in Ireland come from abroad and are becoming younger. For example, I have been told that the average age of a foreign prostitute in Germany is 17. The demand exists for young foreign women in Ireland and other European countries and the question arises as to how to deal with this problem. Wherever demand exists, the product, which in this case is meat in the form of human beings, will be provided. Whenever demand for a product exists, be it for drugs, people or arms, people will exploit it and make a great deal of money from it.

Consequently the demand side of the trade must be targeted, regardless of whether it is represented by a farmer, an accountant, a business man or even a politician. These amendments pertain to sexual services because employment law and labour law is available to deal with those who exploit others in the labour force in locations such as mushroom farms or restaurant kitchens. However, no law exists to deal with someone who avails of a person's sexual services. It is a crime for an employer to bring someone from Ukraine to work on a mushroom farm, pay them nothing and intimidate them into working day after day. However, it is not a crime to enter a brothel and knowingly pay for sex with a 17 year old or 19 year old. Essentially, this is what the law states at present.

While it is a crime to solicit, it is not a crime to take money or to pay money for sexual services. The amendments under discussion do not propose to introduce criminal legislation for everyone who uses the services of a prostitute, which is an issue to which Members must return. The amendments pertain specifically to trafficked people and circumstances when there is reason to assume a customer knows that he or she is using the services of a person who has been trafficked. As Deputy Naughten observed, sometimes it will be difficult to prove and at other times not. In the case of a 17 year old who cannot speak English, a reasonable assumption can be made that such a person has been brought to Ireland for certain reasons.

The Minister should accept these amendments, which pertain specifically to people who have been trafficked, rather than to the laws on the sex industry in general, which also must be debated. When one considers the increasing numbers of foreign girls — this issue primarily, although not exclusively, affects girls — in brothels and on the streets at present, this proposal would make an important statement to people that such activity is a crime and is not acceptable and is a legal, rather than a moral issue. Such a statement from this House would be highly positive.

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