The Director of Public Prosecutions has ordered the first prosecutions under new laws criminalising the purchase of sex.

I’ve spent more than a decade researching controversial, sensitive topics. But in many ways, my research on the sex industry has been the most difficult. This is in large part due to the contentious nature of debates on how to organise it, writes Erin Sanders-McDonagh.

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Independent TD John Halligan says prostitution should be legalised.

Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald is to proceed with plans to criminalise people who pay for sex, despite calls by Amnesty International for all aspects of sex work to be decriminalised.