Irish Examiner view: Sex traffickers operating in plain sight

A report on the technology being used in Ireland’s sex trade has described the use of websites to advertise escorts as a 'shop window' for sex buyers. Picture: iStock

A report on the technology being used in Ireland’s sex trade has described the use of websites to advertise escorts as a “shop window” for sex buyers.

The Sexual Exploitation Research and Policy (SERP) Institute briefing document also points out that a loophole allows the pimps and sex traffickers behind such websites to escape prosecution, but this is just one in a litany of horrors that the report puts into the spotlight.

The dehumanising effect of online activity may have deadened our sensitivity to some of the dystopian extremes on offer in the virtual world, but SERP’s report should make us reconsider what is and what is not acceptable in a decent society. The organisation states, for instance, that these sites offer a menu to users, allowing them to choose women according to a range of options and details — age, nationality, ethnicity, dress size, and so on.

In previous decades, the idea that a woman’s characteristics could be filtered in this way would have belonged to the realms of science fiction. As SERP has pointed out, this is now an everyday reality — the reduction of women to a set of attributes is an option available at the touch of a button on one’s smartphone.

The commodification of human beings is a general degradation, but in this specific context there are other considerations which may be more pressing. SERP has raised concerns about the age of some of the women featured on these websites, while the photographs of others appear to show them to be already injured. In addition, anywhere there are women involved in the sex trade, trafficking is a serious problem, and there is no reason to think Ireland is any different.

Those who organise and run these websites may be operating anonymously, but Ruth Breslin of SERP asked a basic question yesterday which should spark a reaction from the authorities: How can such sites advertise something that is illegal in this jurisdiction?

The only positive here is that the report shows exploitation in plain sight, and thus removes any excuse for not acting against it.

Flashing the cash to break a sweat

At first glance this sounds like a premise from the old Yes, Minister series. The Oireachtas is to spend €190,000 on a fitness instructor who will be charged with keeping TDs, senators, and staff in shape.

They will be responsible for all aspects of the on-site management and operation of the Houses of the Oireachtas Service Fitness Room, as well as developing suitable personalised training programmes for users, including group classes if feasible.

Expect the puns and jokes to come thick and fast.

On a serious note, it is difficult to see the justification for having a gym instructor on hand for politicians when other citizens and workers pay for such services themselves.

It is even harder to justify when one considers that the majority of those politicians are only in Dublin for two nights a week while the Oireachtas is sitting, spending the rest of their time in constituencies in the four corners of the country.

The instructor may end up devising programmes for Dublin-based politicians for the most part.

Reports suggest that making the fitness centre available to staff in Leinster House means that the potential user population of the facility is approximately 1,000 individual users, but this number should be considered in conjunction with the centre’s opening hours.

The fitness room is open for 18.5 hours per week during non-sitting sessions and for 27.5 hours per week during sitting weeks.

Those 1,000 individual users would be doing well to squeeze in a couple of regular workouts during those opening hours, particularly when one considers that the fitness room can only accommodate 12 to 15 users at a time.

It need hardly be pointed out that facilities at Leinster House have been under close scrutiny in recent days with particular reference to value for money. Investing in health and well-being is laudable, but this seems excessive. It is surely not beyond our public representatives to make their own arrangements when it comes to pumping iron.

 

A battle of tastes 

Fiddles at dawn: A war of words has broken out in the world of traditional music.

Readers may be aware that John Sheahan of The Dubliners and Phil Coulter were critical of modern bands The Mary Wallopers and Lankum in a recent interview.

Coulter said: “I don’t think any of them are as good as The Dubliners.”

Sheahan said: “They’re mediocre musicians and singers. I am not too impressed with The Mary Wallopers. They wouldn’t be my first choice of a guest on a solo show of mine.”

It was somewhat surprising to read that kind of forthright criticism, and the reaction was swift. Lankum reposted a message from Spider Stacy of The Pogues: “Phil Coulter is an old fool who means nothing and clearly has no ears left. But I expected more from John Sheehan. What the hell did he think of us if he thinks the Wallopers are ‘mediocre musicians’?”. The Mary Wallopers’ reply was even more robust, if unrepeatable in a family newspaper.

Personal opinions and tastes will always be variable, but Coulter and Sheahan’s remarks were unnecessarily mean-spirited. It would be Pollyannaish to expect all artists to be on good terms all the time, but it’s reasonable to hope for a sense of generosity expressed by those engaged in a common artistic pursuit.