Bill seeks to change law on brothels to improve safety for sex workers

At present, under the Sexual Offences Act 2017, those who offer their services as a sex worker are no longer committing an offence. File photo

A new bill aiming to remove sanctions relating to brothel keeping is to be brought to the Dáil.

The bill will be brought by Solidarity TD Ruth Coppinger, supported by Red Umbrella Éireann, the Sex Workers Alliance Ireland and the Street Workers Collective.

At present, under the Sexual Offences Act 2017, those who offer their services as a sex worker are no longer committing an offence. 

Part 4 of the legislation introduced two new offences — payment for sexual activity with a prostitute, and paying for sexual activity with a trafficked person. Brothel keeping is also an offence under the legislation, attracting a fine and imprisonment of up to 10 years.

Organisations including the Sex Workers Alliance Ireland have argued that the brothel keeping element of the legislation has made it unsafe, as two or more sex workers operating together run the risk of being criminalised.

Linda Kavanagh, spokesperson for the Sex Workers Alliance Ireland, said the new legislation would remove criminal sanctions “for sex workers working together or hiring people to help them in their work, such as security or a driver”.

She stressed that it will not decriminalise violence against sex workers, rape, exploitation, or trafficking.

"The current client criminalisation and brothel keeping laws have failed and have actively made the lives of current sex workers worse," she said.

Ruth Coppinger said a key aim of the 2017 legislation was the reduction in demand for sex work but that this had failed. She said violence against sex workers “remains widespread”.

"Sex workers themselves have explained how the current legislation has been disempowering for them, making them therefore more vulnerable to this violence.

The bill has at its heart a desire to remove any means by which sex workers can be stigmatised, repressed, or harassed by the State, or in any way criminalised. 

"Anything less is discriminatory, and furthermore is exacerbating the intersection of sexism, racism, queerphobia and anti-working-class oppressions that so many sex workers' lives are affected by.” 

Earlier this year, a review was published into the 2017 legislation — almost five years after its initial deadline.

It found that there were “conflicting views …. as to whether the law on brothels should be amended to acknowledge that it is safer for those who sell sexual services to work together on an equal basis, where no coercion from a third party exists”. 

Among the review's recommendations was one for targeted action days and awareness campaigns on brothel keeping laws.