Two rescued from brothels cared for but fears over the safety of five others

RUHAMA is currently looking after two of the women alleged to have been trafficked to the nine brothels raided on Wednesday, but it is concerned for the welfare of five other women.

The seven women, found working in the brothels dotted around the country, are still being interviewed by gardaí to establish whether they were trafficked. Ruhama, which works with prostitutes and victims of trafficking, has offered to accommodate more of the women. It is fearful for their safety if they are not kept in suitable accommodation.

Five of the seven people arrested in connection with the raids in this jurisdiction have been released without charge with files to be sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Three others, including the 47-year-old Irish ringleader of the gang were arrested in Britain.

That man’s wife, ex-wife, son and daughter were among those arrested in Ireland.

Meanwhile, the Immigrant Council of Ireland has claimed new British legislation, which will criminalise those who use prostitutes, will encourage men seeking to buy sex to travel here to exploit our weak laws. Nusha Yonkova of the council said the British law was sending a clear signal that prostitution is a harmful, criminal activity, but ours did not.

She said people who buy sex face no prosecution, and warned, once the British law came into effect, people would travel here for prostitutes.

Currently, Irish law includes a provision that makes it illegal to “solicit or importune” a trafficked person for the purpose of prostitution, but a person accused of this can say he or she did not know the person involved was trafficked. Irish law also falls short of criminalising those who have paid for sex with a woman controlled by a pimp.

Ms Yonkova said when the Human Trafficking Bill was debated this year, the Government was lobbied to criminalise the man, but they did not recognise the link between prostitution and trafficking.

Gerardine Rowley of Ruhama said the last time the Government looked at prostitution was in 1993, but it was completely different today. “We didn’t have the internet then, and we didn’t have the extent of women being brought in here. We would advocate that we would follow Sweden and criminalise across the board the purchase of sexual services.”