Patrick Costello (Dublin South Central, Green Party)
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550. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if her Department will overturn convictions for brothel-keeping on individuals who have subsequently been identified as victims of trafficking; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [52930/22]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy may be aware, Part 4 of the Sexual Offences Act 2017 introduced two new offences - paying for sexual activity with a prostitute and paying for sexual activity with a trafficked person.

It also removed those who offer their services as a prostitute from the existing offences of soliciting for the purpose of prostitution and increased the penalty provided for in section 11 of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 1993 for brothel keeping.

One of the purposes of these measures was to provide additional protection to people involved in prostitution, especially vulnerable people and victims of human trafficking. These measures allow people working in prostitution to provide information to the Gardaí on, for example, violence towards them by clients, without risking prosecution for selling sexual services.

The increase in the maximum penalty for brothel keeping was in recognition of the fact that those involved in the running of brothels often exploit vulnerable people for commercial gain and have links to organised crime. There are concerns that decriminalising brothel-keeping could create a loophole open to abuse by criminal gangs and others who wish to profit from prostitution.

In line with these legislative changes, last year I announced an initiative to expunge previous convictions for ‘sale of sex’, or prostitution offences. The expunging provision when drafted will be limited to convictions for an offence under section 7 or 8 of the Act of Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 1993 where the person was convicted on the basis of evidence that they were offering their services as a prostitute to another person.

A conviction for the offence of brothel keeping will not be expunged under the expungement initiative as it remains a criminal offence.

The Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 2017 provided for a review of Part 4 of the Act which is currently underway. I will carefully examine any recommendations of the review and progress appropriate actions.