Escort website ‘makes a mockery’ of Ireland’s law criminalising purchase of sex
An escort website advertising sexual services “makes a mockery” of Ireland’s law criminalising the purchase of sex, the Seanad has heard.Independent Senator Sharon Keogan said the website operated in direct defiance of Ireland’s 2017 Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act.Its advertisements show all the signs of trafficking of migrant women with little English, she said.“If the law cannot reach those who openly organise, advertise or profit from the breach of our laws, then we must ask ourselves: who exactly is the law for?” she said.READ MOREDaniel Kinahan expected to face single charge, with evidence relating to murder, drugs and launderingFBI director Kash Patel defends his behaviour after sensational magazine reportingMichael Jackson was breathtaking at Páirc Uí Chaoimh. But what was the 10-year-old doing at his hotel?‘My close friend is marrying a good-looking man who uses people – should I say something?’The platform is not a “marginal operation. It is a large, highly profitable enterprise, reportedly charging weekly fees for advertisements while hosting hundreds of listings aimed squarely at Ireland”.The Sexual Exploitation Research and Policy Institute (Serp) has called on Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan to take action against such sites, and the Co Meath Senator highlighted its concerns.“Hundreds of women are advertised daily across the island of Ireland on these platforms, with over 900 on a single site,” she said. “In a four-week analysis Serp identified in online profiles 19 of 28 internationally recognised indicators of trafficking and sexualised exploitation.” She said women presented as independent escorts were often controlled by organised crime groups that dominate the sex trade – such websites provide anonymity for buyers, pimps and traffickers while generating millions in profit. IKeogan said public reporting had identified individuals linked to this operation who have past criminal convictions for pimping. “Company records show the business was relocated from London to Spain, where it now trades through a Spanish-registered company reporting multimillion euro revenues. This is organised, transnational activity, not casual online behaviour. These concerns are now underlined by serious, independent research,” Keogan said.Calling for a debate on the issue she said the continued existence of the website was “nothing short of a mockery of our laws”.A Stormont inquiry was set up in January to investigate a rise in such pimping websites in the North and consider the reality of what it termed “modern slavery”. The inquiry is being undertaken by the all-party group on human trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation.Acting Seanad leader Garret Ahearn said he would raise the issue with the Minister for Justice.
