Fear for prostitutes prevents buying sex

More than 25% of punters have refrained from buying sex from a prostitute because she appeared to be either trafficked, coerced, or underage, a survey by the Immigrant Council of Ireland has found.

The online survey also revealed that by far the biggest fear about paying for sex was not that they would be caught but that they would have a bad experience or contract a disease.

The council spent three months using social media, websites, and chatrooms to invite responses from Irish sex buyers, as well as people who did not use prostitutes.