Jimmy Carter calls for reform of Irish law on prostitution

Campaigners have welcomed the intervention of former US president Jimmy Carter who has written to all TDs and senators urging them to act on proposed laws to criminalise people who pay for sex.

In a letter last week, Mr Carter noted it had been a year since a parliamentary committee called for the radical rewrite of vice laws to target the buyer rather than the prostitute.

The human rights campaigner described the proposed legislation as a transformative approach to ending exploitation, abuse and trafficking of women and girls.