Legislation and Enforcement

From The Implementation of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 2017, Part IV – An Interim Review:

From Report:
Legislation targeting the third party organisers of prostitution is vital, and laws against brothel keeping must be in place to act as a deterrent. However, there is a concern that women who are not themselves organising prostitution or profiting from the exploitation of the prostitution of others may have, on occasion, been targeted under this law. The highest profile incidence of this happening was the conviction and the sentencing of two young Romanian women for brothel keeping, one of whom was pregnant. The women pleaded guilty, were granted bail and were sentenced to nine months in prison for which they are currently appealing. They have not served any sentence to date. We need to continue to work with those enacting and implementing the legislation to ensure the exploiters are the target of criminal sanctions and those exploited are protected.

To date, there have been a total of four outcomes of criminal proceedings against buyers (three convictions and one where the Probation of Offenders Act was applied). There are 13 persons pending prosecution as per the latest official data available – provided by An Garda Síochána in July 2019.

On 26, 27 and 28 April 2019, An Garda Síochána conducted intelligence led operations across six of its divisions nationally, urban and rural (DMR North, DMR East, DMR South Central, Wexford, Louth and Kildare) to target the demand for prostitution and to enforce the legislation which criminalises the purchase of sexual services. These ‘Days of Action’ were coordinated by the ‘Operation Quest’ team at the Garda National Protective Services Bureau, in liaison with local Detective Units. During the course of this intelligence led operation, thirty-six individuals were stopped and questioned by members of An Garda Síochána, arising from suspicions of having purchased sexual services from an individual involved in prostitution. A number of files will now be prepared for forwarding to the Director of Public Prosecutions, with a view to establishing if any criminal prosecution should be initiated arising from the Days of Action. Further Days of Action and similar measures took place on 21 and 22 November and are planned for the future.

In April, September and November of 2019, 36, 38 and 23 suspected sex buyers were respectively stopped and questioned under Part IV of the 2017 Act. These actions served the dual purpose of holding buyers to account and raising awareness of the legislation. This operation reinforces An Garda Síochána’s commitment to target the demand for prostitution and to protect vulnerable persons, including victims of human trafficking involved in prostitution.

The Gardaí are currently developing information which will be given directly to women involved in prostitution by Gardaí during a brothel raid. This will highlight the new law, decriminalisation, the role of the Gardaí and available supports. It should be made available in the main languages spoken by women in prostitution in Ireland – e.g. English, Portuguese (for Brazilian women), Romanian, French (for African women) and other languages identified as necessary by frontline support services. Civil society organisations are working with An Gardaí Síochána, particularly the Operation Quest Team and the Garda National Protective Services Bureau to respond to cases of commercial sexual exploitation and in seeking positive outcomes for those exploited in the trade. Gardaí are increasingly referring women to Ruhama’s services when they come into contact with them during welfare checks and brothel raids.
Recommendations To be completed