Prostitution legislation delay criticised

The Government has come under fire for delaying a public consultation process on the criminalisation of those who hire prostitutes.

Last October, the Justice Minister Alan Shatter announced the public consultation after the Government came under pressure from anti-prostitution and human trafficking campaigners to adopt the Swedish model.

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