Rónán Mullen (Independent)

I express my agreement with what has been said by other speakers, including Senator van Turnhout. In Plain Sight offers us an opportunity to debate the important issue of how people were mistreated and abused in our past. We have had a debate on the Cloyne report and have since had the response of the Holy See. Perhaps we could incorporate it into the discussion. Most fair observers thinking about these issues would agree that we have to move beyond anger and towards analysis to ensure we are making the right decisions for our future, in terms of promoting attitudes that are most protective of the most vulnerable people in our society, especially children.

In that context I would like to raise another human rights abuse issue. Today it is impossible to run a brothel in Sweden and because of the good work of the Immigrant Council of Ireland and Ruhama we have experts from Sweden in Ireland. They are making one issue very clear, namely that Sweden is not repenting of the legislation it passed in 1999 which specifically criminalised the purchase of sex from women in particular. It has had a beneficial effect and ten years on a review shows a halving of street prostitution and a reduction in organised crime in general. Detective Superintendent Trolle, one of the speakers from Sweden, spoke about the radical reduction in street and indoor prostitution that has taken place.

When the previous Seanad discussed legislation on human trafficking, which along with other issues affecting the victims of trafficking was the subject of a Private Member's motion I tabled, an argument was made repeatedly that if one criminalises the purchaser, one would somehow drive the problem underground rather than solve it. That is an increasingly discredited excuse. There is more support for this view in the House than in the previous Seanad.

We have to thank the good work of the Immigrant Council of Ireland and especially Ruhama. They accompany people who are caught up in prostitution and victimised every day of the week and provide practical support. They are also keeping the pressure on Government and policymakers. The Oireachtas needs to show some initiative on this issue and move to introduce legislation before long to criminalise persons who seek to purchase other persons in this way. As has been said, not only is it a question of gender equality, it is also a question of human dignity.