President Carter is right on the need to criminalise the purchase of sex – Keane

Fine Gael Senator and the Party’s candidate in the upcoming Dublin South-West bye-election, Cáit Keane, has today (Monday) welcomed the correspondence from President Jimmy Carter to An Taoiseach Enda Kenny, detailing his views on prostitution and the need to criminalise the purchase of sex.

“I was heartened to see President Jimmy Carter’s correspondence to An Taoiseach Enda Kenny and the members of the Oireachtas on the matter of prostitution. I have prioritised the issues of prostitution and human trafficking since being elected to the Seanad. As a member of the British Irish Parliamentary Assembly, I was on the committee that published a report into human trafficking last October, and I was honoured to be one of the Irish representatives at the Parliamentarians Against Human Trafficking (PAHT) roundtable seminar hosted by the Lithuanian parliament last year.

“The Government has been very active on the need for a new approach to prostitution legislation. In the wake of hosting a conference on the matter in 2012, the Department of Justice and Equality then conducted an independent public consultation process, the report of which was published in July last year 2013. Minister Fitzgerald is now examining the report of the Joint Committee on Justice, Equality and Defence, which recommended the criminalisation of the purchasers of sex in a new approach to prostitution legislation.

“President Carter’s letter applauds Ireland for its significant progress in this area and urges the criminalisation of the purchase of sex. I completely agree that we need to move forward with this now.

“I recently met with Denise Charlton, head of the Immigrant Council of Ireland which has spearheaded the Turn Off the Red Light campaign as part of the public consultation on prostitution. I outlined my support for this campaign and my belief in the need to criminalise the purchasers of sex.

“As a global advocate for women’s rights, President Carter’s comments attempt to push us further along the road already travelled on this issue. He rightly describes prostitution as a form of violence against women and girls. I couldn’t agree more and look forward to working with the Government on the new legislation in this area.”