Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act was enacted in 2017, ostensibly to give better protection to sex workers and victims of human trafficking. To ensure that protection became a reality, a statutory obligation to carry out a review was included in the Act. That obligation came into effect in March 2020, three years after the Act’s enactment, yet here we are in 2023 some three and a half years later and there is no sign of the review. I understand there were difficulties, but the independent expert was appointed in July 2020. We are three and a half years on. Actually, it is almost that.

There is no need to exaggerate because the facts are so damning in themselves. Where is the review? Has the person been appointed? When will the review be completed, given that we are seriously interested in protecting women?

See this speech in context