THE HUMAN rights group benefiting from payments totalling some €10,000 from men who admitted soliciting for sex has said the money will be used directly to help vulnerable women.
“The money will not be going into a general fund,” Karen McHugh, Doras Luimní chief executive said, “and we’ll be ensuring that the money collected will be given over to progressing our work in this area, including our services that offer help to women involved in street prostitution, human trafficking and women suffering domestic violence.”
Twenty-seven men were charged at landmark hearings at Limerick District Court on Tuesday after an undercover Garda operation. Of those, 21 pleaded guilty to soliciting for prostitution in Limerick city between November 11th and December 4th. Six other men are to appear in court on the same charge between now and next February.
Ms McHugh said she was “impressed” with how gardaí and the court dealt with those who had offered money to two plainclothes women gardaí for sexual services.
“We would certainly applaud Judge Eamon O’Brien for taking the stance he took. This is quite unique,” Ms McHugh said.
Judge O’Brien ordered that, rather than the men pay €470 to the State – the maximum penalty under law for those found guilty of soliciting for prostitution – they should each make a donation of €470 to Doras Luimní, which will receive a total donation of €9,870.
She called for a change in legislation to criminalise the purchasing of sex, “looking at the Swedish model”.
The Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 1993 makes it a criminal offence to solicit on the street or any other public place for the purposes of prostitution. A woman working as a prostitute can be prosecuted, as can a man trying to buy sex or a third party such as a pimp. It is not a criminal offence to buy or sell sex in the Republic.
Under Swedish laws, a man paying for sex is guilty of a criminal offence, although women selling sexual favours are granted immunity from prosecution.
Ms McHugh said that while she wasn’t surprised that people were offering to pay for sexual services, she was surprised that on this occasion those looking to purchase were brought to court.