Stormont inquiry to investigate rise in pimping websites
A new parliamentary inquiry is to investigate the rise in pimping websites in Northern Ireland, including the controversial ‘Escort Ireland’ site.
The site is Ireland’s largest advertising site for prostitution services, with 6-900 listings online at any one time. Users are encouraged to leave “ratings” on the women. Who are listed with photographs, prices, and services offered.
Many of the women on the site are foreign born, with the website making its money by charging the “sex workers” who use it for their advertisements, which means it makes money directly from prostitution.
As reported by Gript’s John McGuirk in this piece last week, a basic 30-day ad on the site costs €450, though sex workers can pay more for significant upgrades to their ads.
The site is based in the UK (as it is illegal to advertise sex in Ireland) and is owned by a company operating in Spain, which is owned by convicted pimp Peter McCormick, whose son Mark is also a convicted brothel keeper. The holding company behind the site turned over €6 million in 2015.
The inquiry is to be conducted by the Stormont Assembly’s newly formed All-Party Group (APG) on Human Trafficking and Commercial Sexual Exploitation. It says it will collect evidence from frontline organisations, law-enforcement bodies and survivors, in order to examine how such sites operate and what changes, legislative or regulatory, may be put in place to tackle fears of escalating exploitation.
The launch of the inquiry comes 11 years after the North introduced anti-trafficking legislation, making it the only part of the UK to criminalise the purchase of sex.
This is known as the ‘Nordic model’ approach where buying sex is criminalised and support is given to help women looking to escape exploitation and prostitution. While it was hoped by law-makers that the 2015 legislation would help reduce human trafficking levels, there are serious concerns that the Police Service in Northern Ireland (PSNI) are not fully using the powers at their disposal in the Act, according to the charity CARE, which is helping with the inquiry.
There is also significant worry that online pimping websites have expanded quickly since the law came into force, providing more avenues for organised criminal exploitation, and fast becoming the most common way for criminal gangs to profit from the sale of women and girls.
‘Ordering a woman to be sexually exploited is as easy as ordering a takeaway’
An investigation carried out in June 2025 identified thousands of potential indicators of sexual exploitation on two major UK-based pimping websites, sparking calls for greater action. The investigation by Sky News said that ordering a woman to be sexually exploited “is as easy as ordering a takeaway.”
Analysis of more than 50,000 adverts on AdultWork and Vivastreet revealed a high concentration of red flags linked to organised exploitation, including repeated use of the same contact numbers, and/or duplicated advert text, across adverts for different women in different geographical locations, Sky reported last year.
North Down Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) MLA Peter Martin said the establishment of the new All-Party Group on Human Trafficking and Commercial Sexual Exploitation was a “vital step” in confronting the most “disturbing crimes affecting society.”
:“Human trafficking is a scourge that thrives on exploitation and coercion, and brings immeasurable misery to its victims. Behind every statistic is a human being whose dignity, freedom and safety have been stripped away. Too often, trafficked and vulnerable women are treated as commodities rather than people, and the impact on their physical and mental wellbeing can be lifelong,” said Mr Martin.
“I welcome this inquiry launched by the All Party Group into the rise of so-called ‘pimping websites’ operating in Northern Ireland. These platforms raise serious concerns about the facilitation of exploitation and the normalisation of abuse.
“Eleven years on from the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Northern Ireland) Act championed by my DUP Colleague Lord Morrow, it is right that we examine whether further legislative or regulatory action is required to tackle this issue, and to protect those living in our communities who are harmed in this way,” he added.
“I especially appreciate that CARE will provide the secretariat support for the APG, they worked very closely with Lord Morrow on the original legislation. By gathering evidence from those with relevant information, the APG has the opportunity to shine a light on hidden abuse and ensure that our response is robust, victim centred and effective. We must remain determined in protecting the most vulnerable and holding perpetrators to account.”
Peter Martin MLA, Chair of the APG said: “Commercial sexual exploitation is a reality within our society and pimping websites have facilitated and expatiated this exploitation.
“This inquiry will work towards exposing these platforms which have often hidden behind the veil of empowerment and safety”.
Lord Morrow, the original proposer of the Bill, commented: “Over ten years ago, the Northern Ireland Assembly, took a courageous and bold step against those who seek to exploit women and girls.
“The Nordic Model is about protection. Protection from commodification and exploitation and we remain steadfast in ensuring that this legislation is providing optimal protection for victims”.
Jessica Mcdowell, Policy Officer at CARE NI said: “It is a Programme for Government priority for the Northern Ireland Executive to combat violence against women and girls.
“If the Executive are serious about change they must combat the harm from the sale of women in Belfast.
“On any given day over 300 women can be advertised for sale on pimping websites in Northern Ireland. This is illegal. The law is clear, purchasing sex is a crime. If that law was enforced, demand would reduce and women and girls would receive better protection,” she said.
“It is time for action to be taken on the criminal gangs profiting from exploiting women online.”
The North has been rocked by a number of disturbing recent cases involving pimping and sexual exploitation, with a pensioner jailed last year. Oliver James MacCormack supplied young women with drugs and pimped them out for sexual services, and was sentenced in April 2025 in respect to nine female victims. The numerous offences included human trafficking, controlling prostitution for gain, paying for sexual services and being concerned in the supply of a Class A controlled drug.
One victim, who wished to remain anonymous, said in a victim impact statement:
“One day I went from being employed in (a company), aged in my early 20s, to overnight becoming an advertised escort, a heroin addict waking up sick every day; and stealing from my family to buy heroin from him.
“MacCormack manipulated me and used coercive control. He would supply me with heroin every day at the same place and at the same time. However, if I refused to have sex with one of the sex-buyers he had set me up with, he would not sell me any heroin and would block my phone number, leaving me sick for days.
“With MacCormack, I lost the right to say yes or no as a girl and as a woman. Sex with paying customers just became so normal. I would wake up every day merely existing and not living.”
