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CORK CITY COUNCILLORS will tonight vote on a motion calling on the government to change Ireland’s laws on prostitution, making it illegal to pay for sex.
A motion tabled by Labour would see Cork City follow the lead of county councils in Leitrim and Longford, which have passed similar motions in recent months.
The motions coincide with a Department of Justice consultation seeking submissions on potential changes to Ireland’s prostitution law.
Irish law currently does not ban prostitution itself, but prohibits the solicitation of paid sex and activities such as ‘kerb crawling’.
The motion in Cork has been supported by the Turn Off the Red Light group, a coalition of charities and social groups, who argue that the most effective way of tackling the sex industry is to hinder demand rather than supply.
It argues that such a legal shift, combined with the provision of better support services for people looking to leave the sex industry, would be a major benefit to the estimated 90 per cent of prostitutes who would prefer alternative employment.
A similar proposal is currently under public consultation in Northern Ireland.
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Bead rattlers interfering again. There is no doubt some who may be forced into it but for most people this is a choice . The state has no business interfering in the business of two consenting adults.Do the conservatives believe that the issue will go away? If we legalise it and tax it, make them public workers and set up special areas where the prostitutes can operate. Bring women’s rights group on board so that there is fair input. I’m gay by the way so don’t have a vested interest in this. Us gays have had saunas for years. Ruhama will no doubt be kicking up a racket if it were legalised …
Cork City Council have enough problems with running the city on a reduced budget to be stressing out over national issues.
This is why we have a Dail and Seanad.
Seeing that the city council aren’t doing a fantastic job of running the city, maybe they could put a bit more effort into working out what needs to be done there.
How else will cork men ever get to see a woman naked ?
How interesting that this is happening on the same day Limerick Gardaí admit that targeting buyers has only a short-term deterrent or diversionary effect:
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2012/0924/1224324324002.html
Ms Lyon: There is no substance in that article. The unverified claims are by “business owners”. Businesses only care about their profit margins and don’t give a hoot about society, period.
Besides, maybe if people were free, there wouldn’t be issues with “prostitution”. Ireland has a huge deficit and we must broaden the tax base so let’s bring this industry into the tax system. Let’s not be closed-minded about freedom and consensual rights. Feminists have no right to butt into someones choice if they are over 18.
Why not make it legal rather than illegal and put a tax on it!? As horrible and ugly as these so called kerb crawlers are they easily make 200 quid a night, the country is falling apart why not tax them and regulate it. #easymoney!
That would be sensible!
Surely should read ‘the latest council’ and not ‘the last council’.
The motion was passed unanimously by Cork City Council tonight.
I’m glad to see they’re supporting gender profiling. If criminalizing the buyer supposedly stops this, then maybe you should re-write the constitution so that women have superior rights to men. Assuming the EU wouldn’t get involved then. But maybe the next government would repeal this proposed new law and legalize the profession. Think about that.
Also consider the limitations of what Ruhama propose – do you REALLY think the person selling her services would jeopardize her income by testifying in any form against the buyer and deter future customers? You see, you cannot FORCE a woman to follow your law when it jeopardizes her income. Second, regarding the proposed law on advertising of these services, it would be easy to advertise via a website based in any other country – can’t wait to see you try enforce that under Irish law. It appears you are trying to get even with people who are a lot more clever than you.
@Dalt
I wouldnt be surprised if this law does some day end up in the ECJ or ECHR
Maybe not by Irish individuals or Scandinavians but if they try to bring it in in Main Land Europe I could see sex workers bringing it to court like in Canada
I cannot get my head round all these cruel, ignorant, idiots relishing the idea of taking away the income desperate Mums are using to keep their families together in a deep recession.
That is what it is about people…the bottom line on sex work is people keeping their lives together in adversity…MUCH more important than the clients they need to pay their wages or the ruthless NGOs that prey on them to keep the funding for the salaries and the status quo coming in.
We are talking about a law that will force real mums, with real kids into a modern version of the situations described in “Angela’s Ashes”.
In recent years the Catholic church has shown itself to be utterly untrustworthy when it comes to other areas of human sexuality so why is it that journalists and politicians accept without question whatever they are told by Ruhama, as an NGO they have such strong ties to the Catholic church that there is a fundamental conflict of interest at work here and because of this the Government should conduct its own, independent, research.
Ruhama’s submission to the consultation process relies heavily on the evidence of Dr. Melissa Farley, a person who has in the past testified to a Canadian court, the judge having this to say of her evidence:
[353] I found the evidence of Dr. Melissa Farley to be problematic. Although Dr. Farley has conducted a great deal of research on prostitution, her advocacy appears to have permeated her opinions. For example, Dr. Farley’s unqualified assertion in her affidavit that prostitution is inherently violent appears to contradict her own findings that prostitutes who work from indoor locations generally experience less violence. Furthermore, in her affidavit, she failed to qualify her opinion regarding the causal relationship between post-traumatic stress disorder and prostitution, namely that it could be caused by events unrelated to prostitution.
[354] Dr. Farley’s choice of language is at times inflammatory and detracts from her conclusions. For example, comments such as, “prostitution is to the community what incest is to the family,” and “just as pedophiles justify sexual assault of children….men who use prostitutes develop elaborate cognitive schemes to justify purchase and use of women” make her opinions less persuasive.
[355] Dr. Farley stated during cross-examination that some of her opinions on prostitution were formed prior to her research, including, “that prostitution is a terrible harm to women, that prostitution is abusive in its very nature, and that prostitution amounts to men paying a woman for the right to rape her.”
[356] Accordingly, for these reasons, I assign less weight to Dr. Farley’s evidence.
Here is a link to the ruling on the case – http://www.canlii.org/en/on/onsc/doc/2010/2010onsc4264/2010onsc4264.html#_Toc270411950
No surprise to see the Catholic church involved in the court case by way of The Catholic Civil Rights League, etc.
Another link of interest to – Sex work and the London 2012 Olympics – How was it for you? – http://thetraffickingresearchproject.wordpress.com/2012/09/14/sex-work-and-the-london-2012-olympics-how-was-it-for-you/
How about passing a law to get the guards to investigate prostitution. They could round up dozens of sellers today in Cork alone if they were serious about it. You will note this wasnt a problem until we bacame an open borders state also.
This is Fig Leaf nonsense to disguise the non-enforcement of law in this country.
‘investigate prostitution,’ eh? Good man.
you didn’t actually manage to read the article did you? The bit where it says “Irish law currently does not ban prostitution itself, but prohibits the solicitation of paid sex and activities such as ‘kerb crawling’.
There has been prostitution evident in Cork as long as I can remember. If anything, I see fewer street prostitutes now than were evident 20 years ago, although this may be because of trade being done online now rather than on the street.
“but prohibits the solicitation of paid sex and activities”
Hundreds on escortsIreland waiting to be arrested.
@ M O Sé
Gardai cannot infiltrate those Organizations because they would get found out very quickly. Such Organizations have their own internal controls against rogue Gardai trying to infiltrate them. Besides, it is beyond the power of the Gardai outside the state.
People are more clever than to be baited by some undercover on the streets of Limerick.
Do cork county council and others realise this isnt a federation
They have no power in this regard
“A motion tabled by Labour would see Cork City follow…”
Is this real investigative journalism? I notice the Councillors names aren’t appearing anymore in the articles on this motion. So why can’t the Journal.ie simply follow proper journalism standards and name the Councillors responsible for tabling this motion.
Allow me to help:
Labor councillor Catherine Clancy presumably is the person responsible for tabling this motion.
Can’t wait until the next local elections… A stunning WIPEOUT
@Mark – The only reason Cllr Clancy’s name was left out of the piece is simply because it’s catering to a national audience, and unless Cllr Clancy was being interviewed in it, inserting a name for the sake of it wouldn’t have served much purpose. It’s not as if the councillor’s name was being kept secret or anything – but with respect making a selective decision not to include it was hardly the major journalistic gaffe you’re portraying it as.
Great – Sweden’s derisory attempt to stop street prostitution, really an attempt to get Nigerian prostitutes out of the country, which directly caused mass child sex trafficking in St. Petersburg (Stockholm/St. Petersburg visaless tour operations) ends up in an Irish council debate. A motion which no politician could say not to for fear of loosing their seat.
It is good to see that a political campaign financed by clandestine Declan Ryan (ex Ryanair) via his one foundation and Deirdre Mortell (philanthropy.ie/political communications ltd) is by passing democracy for gender based discrimination devoid of evidence based reasoned legislation.
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