Marcella Corcoran Kennedy (Offaly, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this long-awaited Bill. One of the most enlightening committees I worked on in the previous Dáil was the Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality, which undertook significant research in examining whether this country's prostitution laws should be reformed. The committee was ably chaired by my colleague, the current Minister of State, Deputy Stanton. The joint committee also produced a rapporteur report on domestic and sexual violence. The experts and workers in this field from whom we heard at our hearings helped us to inform the development of this legislation. We need to listen to such people, who include nurses, doctors, advocates and individuals who are victims and survivors of prostitution. Some of the most affecting contributions to our hearings were made by Irish women who have survived prostitution in this country. I recognise that some of them are here with us this afternoon. I commend them on their bravery in coming forward to help us develop this legislation. I urge those who want to get a deep insight into the lives of people who as young people found themselves in prostitution in this country as a result of circumstances beyond their own control to read the committee's extensive report. We listened to everybody on both sides of the argument and we made some strong and significant recommendations.

I acknowledge the tremendous work that has been done by the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre, the network of Rape Crisis Centres, the Immigrant Council of Ireland and Ruhama as part of the overall Turn Off the Red Light campaign to enlighten and inform people about what is going on in our society. I was privileged to be encouraged, helped and supported by those groups when I produced the Criminal Law (Child Grooming) Bill 2014. I am pleased that most of the contents of that Bill are included in the Bill before the House. I welcome the severe penalties that are to be imposed on those involved in what will be considered as child grooming. Incredibly, we did not have a child grooming offence before now. Such offences were being prosecuted under other legislation. I am really happy that provision on the sexual grooming of children includes the familiarisation of children with explicit material.

Sections 3 to 8 makes provision for new offences, including paying for the purposes of sexually exploiting a child, inviting a child to sexual touching, sexual activity in the presence of a child, causing a child to watch sexual activity and making arrangements to meet a child for the purposes of sexually exploiting that child. Sexual exploitation is now defined as including a range of acts, among which are engaging a child in prostitution and for the purposes of child abuse material, as well as the commission of a sexual offence or some other indecent or obscene act. The seriousness of these crimes is reflected in the harshness of the penalties - something I very much welcome - with prison sentences ranging from between ten and 14 years. I am pleased that the Minister is addressing this crime with such seriousness and this is evident in the content of the Bill. The Bill has received across-the-board support in the House. The content also came about as a result of hearings. In the course of those hearings it was identified that this was an issue for us and one that needed to be dealt with.

I have listened carefully to much of the debate. There seems to be a rather libertarian tone to some of the contributions. One important comment came from the Irish Congress of Trade Unions. This was to the effect that the term "sex worker" is not something that congress recognises as a form of work. Most of the women who have exited prostitution as well as those in prostitution see the term as a method of regularising or normalising the experience as something that is authentic or normal. I have a question for those who are trying to create the impression that being a prostitute is something that a child would aspire to or something that is a requirement for certain men who have certain needs as well as those who believe there are certain types of women who should be available to provide some type of service to them. I call on such people to ask themselves whether they would like their sisters, mothers or children to aspire to this marvellous new term of "sex worker". Is that what they feel? Do they believe some social good is done by contributing to the needs of certain men who require this? We need to ask ourselves several questions. What is the appetite for the young body? Where is that coming from? This affects young men and young women alike. Do men need to have conversations with themselves about this? How is it that some men think this is okay?

This is a matter of serious concern internationally. I have talked to the European Union human trafficking co-ordinator Myria Vassiliadou on a number of her visits to Ireland. This is not only prevalent here; it is prevalent across the globe. Some people may think that people are operating independently. If that is the case, they are rare cases. The vast majority of what is happening in this country is actually happening as a result of organised crime gangs using women's bodies to create empires. As others have said, it is a multi-billion euro empire.

I have no wish to take up all the time of my colleague. How much time do I have left?

See this speech in context