Coveney campaign at odds with his party
Earlier this year, Fine Gael said if it got back into power, it would consider legalising small-scale brothels (Irish Examiner, January 18).
Legalisation would attract thousands more women into prostitution. European countries which have experienced the biggest increase in prostitution are those where elements of legalisation have been introduced, such as Germany, Netherlands, Denmark and Italy.
In comparison, the Swedish government has slashed the numbers of prostitutes thereby removing penalties for selling sex and imposing them instead on men who buy it.
Legalisation not only normalises the act of buying sex, it promotes people trafficking.
In 2004, the mayor of Amsterdam, Job Cohen, said “it appeared impossible to create a safe and controllable zone for women that was not open to abuse by organised crime”.
Sally Hogg
7 Sheas Court
Stoneybatter
Dublin 7
