SPECIAL REPORT: Criminalising the user a ‘good start’

Elaine Dalton of Clare Women’s Network explained they have got behind the Turn Off The Red Light campaign as part of their policy work.

Ms Dalton said she was surprised by a number of aspects that came out during the submission process to the review committee.

“Clare Women’s Network identifies as a feminist organisation and we’ve no difficulty with that; feminism to us is about equality issues. I was surprised to find out that feminist organisations are also lobbying against the introduction of this legislation.

“There are groups who are saying no to it, that it is a woman’s choice to work in the sex industry and that surprised me. The Turn Off The Red Light lobby has been told that this opposing lobby is very strong and I wonder where that strength is coming from,” she said.

“I would have always had an awareness of prostitution in Clare. I might have at some point lent myself to the argument that prostitution should be legalised but I no longer think that. I was misled and I thought this might protect the women but as one of the women who testified as part of the Turn Off The Red Light campaign said, ‘if you legalise prostitution, you might as well give men a licence to beat and rape women’. That wasn’t what changed my mind but that sentence will stay with me,” Ms Dalton added.

The network believes criminalising the user “is a very good start” but they stress that it needs to be done in conjunction with providing other support mechanisms to those exiting prostitution.

“You have to look at models that support women financially, emotionally and that will build up their self-esteem. It is going to leave a gap for the women. If they can’t access money from prostitution, where can they access money? If you look at where they have come from, what led them into prostitution, many have a history of abuse. They would need support,” she said.

In addition to the criminalisation, the network also feels strongly about the organisation of prostitution and the need to tackle this in any new legislation.

In the Turn Off The Red Light submission made to the Justice Committee, which Clare Women’s Network was part of, the committee was asked to consider that “organised criminality is inextricably linked to and completely pervades the sex trade in Ireland as in any other European country”.

“The sale of people for sex is one of the three most lucrative international criminal enterprises: alongside sale of drugs and arms. Prostitution is a high gain, low risk enterprise for those involved, who are not prostituted themselves.

“There are many third parties who benefit. They can include, for example, the career criminal pimps; landlords who knowingly rent premises as brothels; prostitution advertisers and individuals who groom, coerce and ultimately profit from the prostitution of their partners, family members or vulnerable acquaintances,” the submission states.

The campaign lobby group highlighted that the simple legal step of criminalising the purchase of sex “would immediately cut demand for the hugely lucrative criminal trade of organised prostitution and trafficking. Reducing the size of the trade in vulnerable women and girls – thereby reducing the numbers exploited in the State.”

In addition to lobbying the Justice Committee, Clare Women’s Network has also written to local TDs and county councillors and a request was made to Clare County Council recently for them to put their support behind the campaign to protect women.