Operation Quest Arrests will go some way to stem the tide on Prostitution

Fine Gael Cork Senator Deirdre has today (Thursday) praised the work of the Gardai and the PSNI involved in Operation Quest which resulted in the raids on 140 brothels s north and south of the border and the arrests of a number of suspected brothel operators.

“I welcome the initiative and commend the Gardai on their hard work and their commitment to bring those involved in exploiting vulnerable women to justice. This operation has highlighted the level of prostitution in our towns and cities and the fact that there were such a significant number of searches will come as a surprise to many. There were 14 searches in Cork in and around the City centre
“I particularly welcome the fact that the operation was targeted at the organisers and not the women involved in prostitution many of whom could be victims of human traffickers trapped in a situation out of their control

“While we have stringent laws in this country regarding prostitution there is always room for improvement when it comes to protecting unfortunate victims . The law on prostitution is currently being reviewed by the Minister for Justice Alan Shatter TD with a view to enhancing the protection of vulnerable persons. He wants to ensure that everything that can reasonably be done to combat the exploitation of vulnerable persons through prostitution and human trafficking will be done. As part of this review, the Minister will be arranging a consultation process on the future direction of prostitution legislation. A detailed document is being prepared on this and is due for publication in the coming weeks.

“Ireland has strong legislation to combat the scourge of human trafficking for sexual exploitation. The Criminal Law (Human Trafficking) Act 2008 gave effect to Ireland’s obligations in various international instruments to criminalise human trafficking. The trafficking of persons for sexual exploitation, including prostitution, is a criminal offence and those convicted of such trafficking are liable to life imprisonment. In addition, it is an offence under the legislation for any person to knowingly solicit or importune a trafficked person, in any place, for the purpose of prostitution.

“ Operation Quest will hopefully go some way to stem the tide on prostitution in this country and will signal to those involved that they will be brought to justice” said Senator Clune.