Fidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

This is a momentous day and I hope we pass this Bill. It would be nice to have unanimity on it. I welcome this amendment. The women and young girls who comprise most of those involved in prostitution are vulnerable, marginalised and poor. I appreciate the work done and the information shared with us by Ruhama, the Turn Off the Red Light campaign and the HSE. They speak about the frame of mind women who have had to engage in prostitution to survive have to get into to go through these acts. On exiting it, for those who have been able to do so, one of the quotes was "It was a shit life". When that is the only way a person has to survive, it may be seen as consent, but I would question consent under that type of pressure. There is no such thing as safe prostitution. Sometimes people are battered to death, in the words of one rape crisis volunteer. The HSE has reported on the gang rape of women. The Internet is not helping. Prostitution is gender-based violence against women. We are right to take an ethical stance against buying another person, because that is what we are talking about. This is an exploitation issue. There are no safety or labour laws in the prostitution context. The Netherlands has tried and failed for ten years. The profits, on the other hand, are extraordinary. I read a quote from one young woman who said she did not have to pay any more than 50% to her pimp. One wonders who has to put up with all the pain and who gets all the gain. The hands of the Garda have been tied. That came out in the "Prime Time Investigates" programme.

Is the Swedish model enough? I would say it is a start. I welcome the fact it makes it an offence for someone to purchase sex, but it is not the full solution for the woman, who may be vulnerable and poor. We need very solid exit strategies and supports to help the women rebuild their lives. It came across very well at a briefing we had in the audiovisual room recently that we have to bridge them into a new life. They have to be given holistic, psychological and financial support. One cannot leave people high and dry and on the breadline. They are also vulnerable to being enticed back. The best approach, and there was consensus about this, is a more victim-centred one, and the Garda would have to be trained and supported in that role. The Garda needs support in legislation. Can the Minister of State say in his response what extra resourcing of the Garda will be put into this?