Law change again demanded

Renewed calls for the decriminalisation of prostitution have been made following the murder of Sinead Kelly this week.

Mr Michael Farrell, a solicitor with the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, believes "criminalisation inhibits women from reporting attacks. It makes them more vulnerable."

He says the 1993 Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act, which criminalises both soliciting and importuning persons for prostitution, was proclaimed as a step forward as it would lead to more prosecutions of clients. "But it does not seem to have worked that way."

In the first 17 months of the Act, 116 women were prosecuted, with only 12 prosecutions of men.

The Reid Professor of Criminology at Trinity College Dublin, Ms Ivana Bacik, believes the Act was simply aimed at controlling the nuisance aspect of prostitution.

"It makes their practices unsafe because the women are not given the chance to check out a client, and clients are more nervous and won't allow themselves to be checked out."

"The primary consideration should be the safety of the women. The law doesn't prevent it. It just drives it underground," she says.

The main purpose of the Act, introduced by Ms Maire Geoghegan-Quinn when minister for justice, was the decriminalisation of homosexuality.

However, secondary clauses referring to prostitution made both soliciting and kerbcrawling offences for the first time.

Before the Act's introduction, a prostitute had to be found to be having sex with a client and accepting payment before a conviction could be brought.

But now anyone found loitering with the intention of prostitution can be directed by a garda to leave that place immediately. If he or she fails to comply with that direction a fine of £250 can be levied for a first conviction, £500 for a second and £500 plus up to four weeks' imprisonment for a third or subsequent conviction.