Gardaí 'actively conduct welfare checks' on sex workers
A Garda statement said that in November 2021, An Garda Síochána conducted 45 safeguarding visits with individuals in the sex trade. File Picture: Dan Linehan
Garda HQ has said that officers actively conduct welfare checks with sex workers to ensure they are safe, and offer them supports.
The organisation also said that any attempt by a garda to abuse their powers for sexual gain “will not be tolerated” and will result in disciplinary action, up to and including dismissal.
The comments came after research found that a fifth of sex workers interviewed — five of 25 participants — said they had been sexually exploited by a garda.
The report, published by the University of Limerick, said sex workers faced “discriminatory behaviour at the hands of An Garda Síochána”.
It said there was “deep mistrust” of the organisation and that sex workers who had been victims of crime, up to and including rape, “felt discouraged” to report.
This, it said, was due to trauma inflicted by “aggressive” garda tactics in the past, and previous experience of reported crimes being “dismissed or mishandled”.
The report, which was funded by the Department of Justice, said the 2017 Criminal Justice (Sex Offenders) Act, introduced by the Department of Justice, had “drastically affected” the lives of sex workers.
The act criminalised the purchase of sex and decriminalised the sale of sex by an individual.
The research called for the full decriminalisation of sex work, including the purchase of sex.
In a statement, Garda HQ said it would fully examine the report, but pointed out that it actively engages with individuals working in the sex trade via welfare checks.
“During these welfare visits, the sex workers are offered available State services, such as the Woman’s Health Service attached to the HSE and in some cases, sex workers are offered supports provided by Ruhama and other NGOs,” it said.
It said the Garda Organised Prostitution Investigation Unit (OPIU) also sends welfare SMS messages to persons advertising sexual services to check on their welfare and offer a confidential way of reporting exploitation or crimes.
It said the OPIU regularly participates in European-led initiatives through Europol with a primary focus on identifying victims of sexual exploitation in the form of forced prostitution and human trafficking.
It said An Garda Síochána’s focus in enforcing the 2017 act was to target persons involved in the purchase of sexual services and the protection of individuals engaged in the sex trade.
The statement said that in November 2021, An Garda Síochána conducted 45 safeguarding visits with individuals in the sex trade.
It said a female victim of sexual/labour exploitation was identified and that 77 persons were questioned on suspicion of having purchased sexual activity.
It added: “An Garda Síochána takes very seriously any allegations of illegal and/or unethical activities by gardaí, and such allegations will be investigated.
“As part of recent anti-corruption initiatives, An Garda Síochána has a policy in relation to the abuse of power for sexual gain.
"The policy is clear that any attempt by Garda personnel to abuse their powers for sexual gain will not be tolerated and will result in disciplinary action, up to and including dismissal."
Ruhama, which along with many other organisations campaigned for the 2017 act provisions, also provided a lengthy statement on the research.
The research had made this comment in relation to Ruhama: "To our best knowledge, the training delivered to An Garda Síochána by Ruhama is fundamentally harmful to the well-being of sex workers and does not prove effective.”
It called for “a full independent investigation” into why and how financial investments in Gardaí training regarding sex workers was done and by whom.
Ruhama’s CEO Barbara Condon said the report was “a stark reminder” of the inherent danger, violence and risk to women impacted by the sex trade in Ireland, particularly women in street prostitution.
She said it was “very sad” to hear about the women who experienced violence and harassment from some gardaí.
However, she said the report was focused on “a very small minority” in the whole sex trade in Ireland, the majority of which, she said, was online.
“This research is with 25 women identified as street sex workers and is not representative of the estimated 1,000+ women engaged in the sex trade across Ireland,” she said.
“Ruhama works with hundreds of women every year, most of whom are victims of commercial sexual exploitation in the online sex trade. We have seen fewer and fewer women selling sex on the streets, and particularly since the Covid pandemic, to the point that we have had to retire our outreach van that provided supports to women selling sex on the street for over 30 years.”
She said that while Ruhama engaged with the early stages of the research, it withdrew over concerns it had.
On the criticism of Ruhama’s training, Ms Condon said: “We are surprised that the research concluded that the training provided to An Garda Síochána by Ruhama is harmful, without any basis or knowledge of the contents of the training.”
She said they did know that the women supported by the services in Ruhama would report “varying experiences” of engagement with the Gardaí, but said they have worked for many years “in growing a very positive and supportive relationship” with the Gardaí and in reinforcing the need for a victim-centred and trauma-informed approach.
Ms Condon said one aspect of the training was to highlight and recognise the experiences of women and the complexities and vulnerabilities that lead women into prostitution.
“Additionally, an increase in the positive engagement between women in prostitution and the Gardaí was reported in a report in 2020 by SERP, ‘Shifting the Burden’, which also came from the same Department of Justice funding source as UL’s research.”
She said the SERP research showed that since the introduction of the 2017 Act, decriminalising persons selling sex, women “welcomed the welfare checks” and that change in behaviour was noticed among gardaí to support women in prostitution and taking reported incidents of violence seriously.
“This research was a study of a sample of 144 women from the Women’s Health Service, and showed that the Garda National Protection Services Bureau (GNSPB), which deals with sexual crime investigation, is clear that searches and raids of brothels are targeting the organisers who are profiting from the prostitution of women, and are not targeting the women selling sex,” Ms Condon said.
“Gardaí conduct welfare checks in brothels in order to check in with the women that they are there of their own accord and are not being exploited, and in doing so they are encouraging a good relationship and trust in the Gardaí. The 2017 Act is still relatively new and the impact and the full implementation of the legislation has yet to be realised.”
She said Ruhama supported the ‘Equality Model’ (Nordic Model) in the protection of women and the recognition of the demeaning, harmful and traumatic experiences among women in the sex trade.
“Full decriminalisation of the sex trade has proven to have failed to improve the situations of women in countries like the Netherlands and New Zealand, whereas countries that have introduced the Equality Model have seen positive improvements in the lives of women in Sweden, France, Canada, and Northern Ireland."
