Jim Walsh (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is appalling that this trade is even more extensive than it was in the 19th century. It has not been addressed by the international community as comprehensively and energetically as it needs to be. Anything that protects these women in particular is essential and I welcome it. I also welcome the steps that are being taken to protect women who are vulnerable by reason of drug addiction. The Minister of State has taken the particularly strong line that the criminal system is not the way to deal with drug addiction and the crime that flows consequently from it.

I think it is a mistake to say that everybody involved in prostitution is being exploited or is vulnerable. All the reports clearly show that a coterie of women participate in high-class escort agencies and charge very high fees for the sexual services they offer. I do not know to what extent this is the case. I agree with Senator Norris that it is absurd that the purchaser is guilty of a criminal offence but the women who are selling the sex - it is a very lucrative business as far as they are concerned - are not guilty of such an offence. I think the Minister of State should look at that again. There is a danger associated with the manner in which this is being done. It is contingent on men, in the main, responding to the fact that they will be prosecuted criminally for what they do. That may not have the deterring effect that the Minister of State might expect or that any of us might expect. There are many laws on the books that are ignored by people.

I am concerned about vulnerable women, in particular. Some Senators referred to poor women who resort to prostitution as a means of getting some money. Poverty drives people into the sex trade. I am not sure the construction of this legislation will not have the opposite effect of increasing the number of women who participate in prostitution. That would be of some concern to me. I lived in an era when almost everybody was poor. We had nothing like the levels of crime we have today.