Shatter seeks input on law for prostitution

JUSTICE MINISTER Alan Shatter has announced public consultation on the criminalisation of users of prostitutes — though a newly published report makes clear his own department’s reservations about a new law.

The Government has been under pressure from anti-prostitution and human trafficking campaigners to introduce the Swedish model.

In 1999, the Scandinavian country became the first in the world to introduce legislation criminalising the purchase of sex but decriminalising the sale.