Sex with trafficked women is rape

AS your special investigation (August 31) makes clear, the sex trade is thriving in Ireland and Irish men are paying to have sex with trafficked women.

These women are victims of torture and abuse and allow themselves to be used by their “customers”; only out of the fear they have for the men that control them. As such, they do not give consent to what is happening which makes it rape. If figures from Ruhama, the organisation dedicated to supporting these women, are correct, there are hundreds of trafficked women in Ireland. That adds up to thousands of Irish men who are complicit in their regular abuse and rape.

That such a situation could exist in our country is something that all Irish people should be ashamed of. The least we can do to help these women is to be vigilant and report to the gardaí at once any place we suspect is being used as a brothel, so they can take action if required. This is rape and it has to stop.