Ruhama, the charity for survivors of trafficking and sexual exploitation, said that it hopes that An Garda Síochána will be given more powers to increase the number of people convicted under a 2017 law.
Helen McEntee has confirmed that a government-promised review of the law, which is now four years late, will be “ready in the coming weeks”.
Former justice minister Frances Fitzgerald passed a law in 2017 which made it illegal to pay for sex, as part of a plan to “end demand” for prostitution in Ireland.
Supporters of the law said that it would help reduce sexual exploitation by disrupting the market. But others claimed that the legislation would drive sex work underground, and make prostitution more dangerous. The government was also criticised for using the law to double the penalty for “brothel keeping”, as the measure would punish sex workers living together for safety reasons.
The justice minister confirmed on Thursday that a review of the law, which was initially promised before the end of 2020, is with her Department and “it will be ready in the coming weeks.”
Ms McEntee said that there had been “twists and turns and bumps in that review.”
Last year, the Irish Independent revealed that a high-profile and celebrated solicitor had her contract terminated by Ms McEntee’s department after the report she was tasked with writing within three months was delayed by three years.
Officials had told Maura Butler, who received fees of more than €300,000 doing reports for the Government since 2020, that they had been forced to watch with “increasing dismay” as the deadlines for the report were repeatedly pushed back, while they claimed “no real progress” had been made.
Last year, Ms McEntee tasked her own officials with finishing Ms Butler’s review of the law.
Barbara Condon, the chief executive of Ruhama, said that the charity was waiting to see what the report recommended.
“I think that’s what’s currently under review, so we’re waiting for the recommendations of that and we would hope that the Guards would have increased powers so that we would increase convictions,” she said.
Speaking at the launch of Ruhama’s annual report in Dublin’s Mansion House on Thursday, Ms Fitzgerald said that she hoped the review of the law that she passed would strengthen it, “not diminish it in any way.”
“And I hope that we will learn from the experiences of an Garda Síochána trying to implement the legislation. And look, the legislation needs to be changed, it should be changed. And to make the work of AGS easier and to make sure that we get more convictions,” she said.
The Ruhama launch yesterday heard from a woman who had been trafficked into Ireland for the purposes of sexual exploitation. The woman, who does not want to be identified, said that she had been raped multiple times.
“The series of trauma and pain I experienced was next to none, as my rights as a woman were violated in the most inappropriate ways. I was so frightened and unable to speak. I was voiceless, I was helpless, I was friendless. I contemplated suicide many times, because I felt like I had lost every reason to live,” she said.
The woman, who received a standing ovation, now works in the healthcare sector as a carer. “I came into Ireland very sadly, and not by my choice. And now I can say that I now live in Ireland very happily, because of all you wonderful people,” she said.
