Rónán Mullen (Independent)

This proposal was discussed extensively on Committee Stage. Senator O'Toole's amendment No. 14 is admirably expressed and seeks to bring about the same result, which is to orient our law towards full protection of the dignity of the human person, particularly in respect of persons engaging in prostitution. I outlined extensively on Committee Stage the reasons that we should take the law in this direction. Efforts to target those who engage in the trafficking of persons cannot be divorced from the issue of demand, that is, the end users who seek to avail of the services of persons in prostitution. The latter increasingly include those who are trafficked for this purpose.

I listened to a debate yesterday on the "Today with Pat Kenny" radio show between Geraldine Rowley of Ruhama and a person speaking for those who characterise themselves as sex workers. Ruhama has been admirably vocal in advocating legislation akin to the Swedish model which provides that persons in prostitution are people to be protected. Moreover, it sees those who avail of the services of persons in prostitution as exploiters and abusers who seek to violate the dignity of another person by purchasing the use of his or her body and who damage the fabric of society by contributing to the continuation of highly negative and exploitative attitudes towards women.

I was critical on Committee Stage of the Government's reluctance to take on board the point that we should criminalise the users of persons in prostitution not just because it might in some cases lead to successful prosecutions of users but also because the law is clearly an educator. This point was denied by implication when it was suggested that the law should not concern itself with moral issues. I note in recent days, however, that the Government is anxious to present alcohol abuse as a moral issue in which the law should seek to be an educator, to regulate behaviour and to point the way for society. I refer to the Taoiseach's article in the Sunday Independent and subsequent discussion. The Government seems unwilling to accept that the law can have a similarly beneficial approach if it criminalises the users of persons in prostitution.

It has been argued on previous Stages in both the Dáil and Seanad that to criminalise the users of persons in prostitution might have the unintended effect of driving prostitution further underground and forcing women — for it is mostly women we refer to when talking about people in prostitution — into more dangerous situations and do little to prevent the noxious trafficking of human persons. I pointed out that this has not been the Swedish experience. The Swedes criminalised the use of persons in prostitution in 1999. They have not only not repented of that course but are quite evangelical in advising other countries to follow suit. Moreover, far from driving the problem of prostitution and trafficking further underground, the Swedish authorities claim there has been a vast reduction in the number of persons in prostitution on the streets and that while thousands of people are being trafficked into neighbouring countries for work in the so-called sex industry, the figure for Sweden runs only to the hundreds.

The same Norwegian report which suggested that the criminalisation of users might have the unintended effect of driving prostitution further underground showed that the Dutch experience, which was to make prostitution almost completely respectable and above ground, did nothing to prevent the development of an unhealthy and sinister underground prostitution system and that the authorities there now regret the approach they took. It makes sense that criminalising users will ensure we do not create another potential strategy for those who would traffic persons into the State for work in the sex industry. A certain amount of this has gone underground already and will remain so as long as we have the Internet and mobile telephones. These new technologies represent a phenomenon that is difficult to police. We should not make it more difficult by creating a massive disincentive for the potential user. That point was all but acceded by the person representing the so-called sex workers on RTE Radio 1 when this person accepted there would be a reduction in numbers. Representatives of persons working in prostitution oppose legislation according to the Swedish model. One might expect such opposition from some people who are engaged in this industry, whatever the misery involved.

I said on Committee Stage that I suspect the arguments which have been thrown up against criminalising users as I have proposed mask other arguments that people dare not ventilate. We had the argument that prostitution, as the oldest profession, has always been with us and that there are women in prostitution who are there as a matter of choice. It has even been argued that a minority of errant and criminal gardaí might seek to blackmail people. However, one could say of any criminal law that somebody might seek to blackmail a person by making a false accusation. Among the Garda sources with whom I have been in contact directly and indirectly and who have been involved in policing criminality in the sex industry, there are those who see no problem with the criminalising of users. They believe it would act as a deterrent.

Why is no action being taken in the interests of human rights? Why is the Government citing only one side of the argument? When I asked the Minister of State, Deputy Smith, on Committee Stage about the social anthropologist whose view the Government was putting forth to support its case, I was given the name of Petra Östergren. It is disappointing that the Government seems to be basing its arguments on the views of a person who may well be professional but is in the pro-sex worker category. This suggests a reluctance to engage in fresh thinking. Ms Östergren is a Swedish writer and social commentator who admits that the women who are at the centre of prostitution policy are rarely heard and often feel discriminated against. No doubt she is correct in that.

She has also stated, however, that most of the sex workers she has interviewed reject the idea that there is something intrinsically wrong with their profession or that they should be subjected to therapy or retrained. This is a type of libertarian, pro-choice attitude to prostitution, taken on board by this Swedish writer and social commentator, who may well be a social anthropologist, and quoted at first anonymously and then named by the Government.