Women's group slams lap-dance club plan
The opening of a new lap-dancing club in Dublin could act as a breeding ground for prostitution and sex trafficking, it was claimed today.
The Ruhama women’s project said it was firmly opposed to the Peter Stringfellow’s club, which is due to open in Parnell Street in the city later this month.
Spokeswoman Gerardine Rowley said: “Peter Stringfellow, in all his PR to date, is selling it as a lap-dancing club and it is a fact that lap-dancing clubs are part and parcel of the sex industry.
“We have concerns around the opening of such a club because it is part of the sex industry and it is a breeding ground for prostitution, for trafficking and for other crime.”
Mr Stringfellow will apply for a dance licence at the Richmond District Cort tomorrow but the North Inner City Residents’ Group is expected to object because of the club’s location close to a complex for the elderly, a girls’ secondary school, and a popular toy store.
Ms Rowley said her group supported their campaign and added that she was concerned the club would provide respectability to the lap-dancing sector.
“When you start introducing these as a form of entertainment, they become part of mainstream forms of entertainment and for us there’s just huge concerns about that. It’s legitimising the abuse of women and exploitation.”
Ruhama has dealt with more than 100 women who have been trafficked into Ireland to work in the sex industry. The group has also spoken to women who became involved in prostitution after working in lap-dancing clubs.
Mr Stringfellow has insisted his lap-dancing club will gentrify the deprived north inner city area around Parnell Street and and has said that residents should accept his international reputation.
But local Labour Party councillor Aodhan O Riordain said residents were concerned that the club would draw prostitutes from other areas of the city towards the Parnell Street area.
“This fight is only beginning and Mr Stringfellow needs to understand that we’re not going to be silenced easily,” he said.
