Ivana Bacik (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Stanton, to the House. I am delighted he is here to take this matter in which I know he has a strong interest. My Commencement matter is to ask the Minister for Justice and Equality to provide information on the progress made to date in conducting the three-year review of the operation of section 7A of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 1993. In particular, I seek an outline of the progress made in providing the additional resources promised to support those seeking to exit prostitution and for research into the operation of section 7A.

The Minister of State is well aware of the context for this question. It is the passing into law in 2017 of Part 4 of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act, which created in section 7A of the 1993 Act a new offence of purchasing sexual services, thereby criminalising the buyers of sex, while also decriminalising individuals who sell sex. The primary objective, as the Minister of State is well aware, was to tackle the demand that leads to sexual exploitation, predominantly of women and girls. The context was the 2013 recommendation of the justice committee, which was chaired at the time by the Minister of State and on which I served, that a law be introduced here in line with the approach taken in Sweden and an increasing number of other countries worldwide which seek to tackle demand by criminalising the purchase of sex. In Ireland, we had seen a long campaign by the civil society alliance, Turn Off the Red Light, TORL, to which more than 70 groups were affiliated. The work of TORL fed into the committee's review but, as the Minister of State is aware, we also conducted extensive hearings.

The legislation was commenced on 28 March 2017 and I understand the three-year review is thus due in March 2020. There is some concern among civil society groups that worked with the Turn Off the Red Light campaign and are very supportive of the legislation about how the review required by section 25 of the 2017 Act will be rolled out. My objective today is to get some clarification as to how it is proposed the review will be conducted and to ask the Minister of State to outline whether the promised additional resources will be provided to support those seeking to exit prostitution. A review of the debates on this matter would show that even those who opposed the legislation supported the provision of resources to assist those who wish to exit prostitution. There was an expectation that projects such as the Women's Health Project and groups working closely with those seeking to exit prostitution such as Ruhama would be given resources to assist them in their important work. The Minister of State travelled with other members of the committee to Sweden on a fact-finding trip in 2012 when we saw the resources that are put in place in that country to support the implementation of its law.

I am also keen to find out what progress has been made in resourcing research into the operation of section 7A. We need to ensure the review will be evidence based and research will be done to provide facts on which the review will be based.

I would also like resourcing to be provided for a public awareness programme on the legislation and its purpose. The first conviction under Part 4 was reported on 21 January last. One assumes the reporting of that conviction will have knock-on and deterrent effects. We know from other research that knowledge that people are likely to be prosecuted acts as a deterrent and has a very welcome effect of suppressing demand. We know also that implementing new criminal legislation creates challenges. While the reporting of cases such as the conviction secured in recent weeks will have an important chilling effect, we are all conscious that resourcing must be put in place for specialist Garda units assigned to the work of targeting sex buyers and the organisers of prostitution who feed on demand.

I have raised a number of different issues. I know the Minister of State is personally concerned about this matter and I welcome his attendance in the House to respond.