The day is finally upon us: paying for sex in Northern Ireland has become illegal. The world-renowned piece of legislation has been the source of huge controversy over the past year. At a time when many European countries are looking at finding ways to control the sex industry through decriminalisation, Northern Ireland has decided to pave its own path to reshaping the world’s oldest profession.

Window Dressing

Simply put, paying for sexual services in Northern Ireland is now against the law, but selling sex is still groovy. Is the move short-sighted? Undoubtedly. Following in Sweden’s example, the law can be analogised to a child pushing his toys under a blanket to clean a mess up. The mess is still there, but he’s now able to comfortably lie to his mom that his room is clean.

It might be an oversimplification – but honestly, no one in their right minds is going to think that sweeping prostitution under the rug is somewhere going to get rid of it. You might not be able to see the mess on the streets, and the significance of red light districts might become only a cultural memory, but it’s really not going to make a scrap of difference to the scale in which it occurs. It’s still going to be here, behind closed doors and within secluded meet-up spots, shielded from both the eyes of the public and the police.

Those that don’t go underground will simply move to the Republic of Ireland. Imagine it: right now they’ll be escorts, pimps and prostitutes travelling by the bus load down the east coast of Ireland. With bated breath they’ll wait for each turn in the road, until eventually the bright lights of Dublin start to leak onto the horizon, carrying forth all the promise of a sexually liberated paradise. Plenty of people are willing to travel across the country if they see an escort they like; this may now become even more commonplace.

Even the Immigrant Council of Ireland has said that there is no doubt people would “make the short journey over the Border in order to escape the law.”

No Sex Worker Support

Meanwhile, Dublin-based American sex worker Kate McGrew of the Sex Workers Alliance Ireland has similarly criticised the legislation.

She said: “Nobody in the community says they will stop working or going to see sex workers.

“They will be forced to have more concern for protection of their clients than themselves and that tips the power balance. A consequence will also mean sex workers will have less trust in police.”

What the law is really for is the likes of Lord Morrow, who proposed the measure. It’s the desire to A) appear publicly horrified by prostitution and B) not have to see a prostitute on the drive home in his BMW. He’ll know the difference it’ll make – but it’s a ‘not in my backyard’ scenario and as long as people don’t see it, maybe the bliss of ignorance will take over.

As with much of the world, we’ll sit back and watch the skewed results, until eventually the inevitable is accepted: the only way to make the sex industry safer is through decriminalisation.