Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

I welcome the Minister's comments although I am not sure what they mean in the context of where we are in the legislative process. Like the Minister, I cannot see what harm it does to include these provisions. To include them does not diminish the section, rather it sends out a strong signal.

I am reminded that John Mortimer is appearing in the Helix tonight. He deals with this issue in the latest instalment of his Rumpole of the Bailey series, where a young man is faced with an ASBO because his playing football on a quiet street is objected to by a posh middle-class lady, a psychotherapist, who lives and receives her clients there. It turns out, however, that it is not psychotherapy her clients are seeking. The Minister says there will be difficulty in proving the offence of using the sexual services of a person who has been trafficked. However, Deputy Naughten is absolutely right when he argues that it will be equally difficult to prove the offence of trafficking. Whatever about the concerns of the Human Rights Commission, I would have thought it helpful if one could rely on the reasonable expectation that, once recovered, the person abused might give testimony to the fact that he or she was trafficked. That seems to be a desirable situation. If it is good enough for Rumpole of the Bailey, it is good enough for me.

I am not sure what the Minister proposes to do.

See this speech in context