No entrapment in prostitution arrests, says garda

ONE of Limerick’s most senior gardaí has refuted claims that men caught in a sting operation to tackle prostitution were the victims of entrapment.

Last week, 27 men with addresses across the mid-west appeared before Limerick District Court charged with soliciting prostitution services from undercover female gardaí.

Of those, 21 pleaded guilty and were fined €470 while six had their cases adjourned until next year.

Since the high-profile case hit the headlines, there have been claims that the men were entrapped and that they were given an undertaking their names would not be published.

However, Chief Superintendent Dave Sheahan said the operation, codenamed Freewheel, was conducted “totally within the remit of the law” and all the men could have pleaded not guilty if they so wished.

“I am disappointed that people would run with the idea that we would engage in entrapment. It wasn’t entrapment,” he said. “What seems to have attracted the public’s mind is that we did this without telling anyone we were going to do it. We have checkpoints every day of the week for speeding and drink-driving but we don’t tell people we’re doing that and there’s no furore.”

Chief Supt Sheahan also pointed out that the gardaí “had no desire whatsover” to have the names of the men printed in national newspapers.

“Gardaí had no input to name these individuals,” he said. “I empathise with the situation they find themselves in, but it was not my decision to publish their names. I never wanted them named. I’m providing a public service and have rules and regulations to follow, and what we did was totally within that.”

He said he could not comment on when or how the gardaí assessed these men should be charged, or what the men said to these undercover female officers which led to the charge, saying that it’s an “operational matter.”

Chief Supt Sheahan said Operation Freewheel, which began in 2010, was a “multi-phased and graduated” operation to tackle prostitution in Limerick.

Since it began, 31 warrants have been obtained to search premises suspected of being brothels, and 126 people have been arrested as a result of their operations.

Of those, 87 people have been charged, including the 27 men brought before court last week on soliciting the services of prostitutes.

Overall, the operation has led to 42 convictions.