Rónán Mullen (Independent)

I move amendment No. 14:

In page 12, before section 14, to insert the following new section:

14.—The Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act, 1993 is amended by the insertion of the following section:

"14.—A person who avails of the services of a prostitute shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable upon conviction on indictment—

(i) to imprisonment for life or a lesser term, or

(ii) at the discretion of the court, to a fine.".

When this Bill was discussed in the Dáil, the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform heard various proposals to the effect that it would be desirable to criminalise users of sexual services of trafficked persons. The objections he outlined were not completely convincing but he was correct when he stated: "In terms of legal policy, if one wants to provide for what is being suggested, one must criminalise the purchase of sex generally." If difficulties arise in respect of bringing prosecutions against those who avail of the sexual services of trafficked persons, one way to be sure of prosecuting is by criminalising the purchase of sex generally. In a sense, the Minister averted his eyes from an elephant in the room given that the use of persons in prostitution is an unconscionable affront to the dignity of the human person and the rights of women in particular because they represent the majority of the victims.

I sometimes detect a certain fatalism among policy makers on the issue of prostitution. It is referred to as the oldest profession and we are told people practise it as a matter of choice. When one considers the economic circumstances in which many persons in prostitution find themselves, it is hard to imagine they are in the business as a matter of free choice properly understood.

During the debate in the Dáil, the argument was also made that criminalising the purchase of sex generally would drive the prostitution industry further underground. We were told about a Norwegian study which found that Swedish legislation passed in 1999 to criminalise the purchase of sex, and not yet abolished, could lead to the unintended consequence of driving the prostitution industry underground. However, this seems very unlikely. In fact, that Norwegian study also found that the Dutch, who went the opposite route and created structures which legitimised prostitution, still experienced a major underground problem that involved violence against women, the exploitation and abuse of children and so on. If it is the case that the Dutch experience of liberalisation saw underground activity of a very disturbing nature, it seems hardly likely that if we were to go the route of criminalising the purchase of sex generally, we would somehow bring about a greater level of seedy, violent and dangerous underground activity and prostitution. Undoubtedly, if it was the case that by criminalising the purchase of sex generally, we would put a certain number of people, women in particular, in danger, then we should be very slow to go that route.

I note, however, that Ruhama — we are back to sincerity again — the organisation which perhaps can best claim to be sincere in its outreach to women in prostitution, has urged Members of both Houses to go the route of criminalising the purchase of sex. It seems fair to say that if one criminalises the purchase of sex, not only will one hinder the practice of prostitution, one will hinder the trafficking of persons for exploitation in prostitution because one is attacking the demand side of the market. I know one must attack the supply side as well. By attacking the demand side and by establishing it is a criminal offence to purchase the sexual services of another person, one is not doing anything to make the emergence of an underground type of prostitution more likely because all one is doing is creating a disincentive for the user.

We must bear in mind that at this time a great deal of prostitution is going on in a way which is very hard to police. People are able to access the services of persons for prostitution over the Internet, using mobile telephone technology and so on. While it can be difficult to detect and prosecute this offence, it is not impossible.

Again, I stress the educative power of the law. We operate at a time when it is a criminal offence to smoke in a pub because of the damage it does to other people. It is also a criminal offence to litter because of the disservice that does to the community. What does it say about our society that we would establish such relatively trivial things as criminal offences but that the exploitation of another person's body should not be a criminal offence? What kind of bizarre form of political correctness has taken hold of our society when we cannot see the wood from the trees on this issue and recognise that a grave offence is perpetrated against a person when another person exploits his or her body? This is not a gender specific issue, although it so happens that women are the primary victims. The same principle applies whether one is talking about a man or a woman.

There are many precedents for importing provisions dealing with one issue into legislation which deals with another. Undoubtedly, this legislation is primarily about trafficking but the issue of prostitution is tied up with it. I go back to the Swedish example. When they criminalised the purchase of sex in 1999, they reported considerable success in removing women from the streets in terms of street prostitution. They also believed they had greatly reduced the amount of trafficking into their country because they had attacked the demand side of the equation. They reported that merely hundreds of persons were trafficked for work in underground prostitution compared with thousands in neighbouring Finland, for example.

There is, therefore, a connection. This is not to import an extraneous piece of criminal legislation into a Bill about trafficking. It is to bring in an issue which is fite fuaite in the sense that by attacking the demand side when we criminalise prostitution, that is, the purchase of sex generally, we also make quite clear our revulsion of this, tackle those who would use and exploit other persons, including persons who happen to be trafficked, limit the potential market available for trafficked persons and thereby attack the evil activity of trafficking.

I repeat that we must not ignore the educative power of the law and its power to send an important message. I am not suggesting convictions will be impossible in this area — far from it. It appears to be relatively simple to secure a conviction in an area such as this. I suggest it is time for a change of heart in our society and at the level of policy making. We need to recognise this is a human rights issue which unites people who may be philosophically traditional in their opposition to this type of exploitation of persons. Surely it is a very modern concern as well.

In all our valuable and legitimate discourse about women's rights, how can we ignore the fact that when we fail to criminalise the purchase of sex, we send a very negative message about the dignity and worth of more than 50% of our population and the relationships between men and women? We undermine family life by failing to express our social abhorrence of behaviour which undermines family life and proper relationships between men and women. We corrupt younger people in their understanding of human sexuality and the importance of the dignity of the person in our society. On that basis, I will press this amendment because it is time we took a responsible stand on this issue.