Lap-dancing club ‘could breed prostitution and sex trafficking’
The Ruhama women’s project said it was opposed to the Peter Stringfellow’s club, which is due to open in Parnell Street in the city later this month.
Spokeswoman Gerardine Rowley said: “Peter Stringfellow, in all his PR to date, is selling it as a lap-dancing club and it is a fact that lap-dancing clubs are part and parcel of the sex industry.
“We have concerns around the opening of such a club because it is part of the sex industry and it is a breeding ground for prostitution, for trafficking andfor other crime.”
Mr Stringfellow was due to apply for a dance licence at the Richmond District Court today but a spokeswoman for the North Inner City Residents’ Group said she had been informed by her legal team that the hearing of the club’s application had been put back for at least two weeks.
The group is expected to object because of the club’s location close to a complex for the elderly, a girls’ secondary school and a toy store.
Ms Rowley said her group supported their campaign and added she was concerned the club would provide respectability to the lap-dancing sector.
“When you start introducing these as a form of entertainment, they become part of mainstream forms of entertainment and for us there’s just huge concerns about that. It’s legitimising the abuse of women and exploitation.”
Ruhama has dealt with more than 100 women who have been trafficked into Ireland to work in the sex industry. The group has also spoken to women who became involved in prostitution after working in lap-dancing clubs.
Mr Stringfellow has insisted his club will gentrify the deprived north inner-city area around Parnell Street.
But local Labour councillor Aodhan O Riordain said residents were concerned the club would draw prostitutes. “This fight is only beginning and Mr Stringfellow needs to understand that we’re not going to be silenced easily,” he said.
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