Mick Wallace

[circumcised guy]

I have to admit when i saw the title of this thread my first thought was to reply by totally lambasting the man and to say i thought he was nothing but a prat. But i have to admit after reading his article my opinion of him has changed. So fair play to the man it's good to see a politician actually talking sense.

[JMastodon]

It,s the first time his mouth talked a bit of sense

That's a bit harsh, it's not the first time he's stood up for sex workers. He gave a speech to the Dáil before about it and he replied to an email I sent him stating that he was firmly against the new legislation. He, Clare Daly and David Norris are the only politicians I'm aware of who have the courage to speak out.

[The Libertarian]

Both Mick Wallace and Claire Daly are top notch people and their stance on this issue is in keeping with that!

[The Libertarian]

The best article I have ever read by any parliamentarians anywhere on this issue by a mile! And Indeed one of the best ever on the issue!
WELL DONE, SIR!

[Playitsam]

It,s the first time his mouth talked a bit of sense

willie , enlighten us mere mortals on all the other senseless pronouncement by deputy Wallace !

[Playitsam]

Although I'm not in his constituency I can assure all here that Mr Wallace will be elected again with a huge majority .

Wexicans are a breed apart , we all know that the Dubs and the Langers have a superiority complex . But real men are from Wexford , show one Cork or Dublin politician who has the same balls as Mick ?
He is a very smart lad .

Every now and again Wexford produces a star , Mick is it .

Never forget , Vinegar Hill , Bannow Bay , Boolavogue fr. Murphy etc etc etc. and sometimes they can play a good game of hurling .

[dob]

Letter in today's examiner from someone unimpressed with Mr Wallace
http://www.irishexaminer.com/viewpoi...ce-298621.html

In his opinion piece on prostitution (November 11) Mick Wallace claims that the Turn off the Red Light campaign makes a number of false assertions and assumptions. Ironically, it is Mr Wallace who has made a number of ill-informed and misguided assertions and assumptions.

From the outset he chooses to conflate adult consensual sex and prostitution. As a researcher who has interviewed numerous survivors of the Irish sex trade, I would suggest that the prostitution contract is better defined as the payment of money to a person to perform unwanted sexual acts for the gratification of another person. This cannot be equated with a mutual, reciprocal, sexual encounter and, I believe, meaningful consent is never obtained by exploiting vulnerability through financial power.

Mr Wallace further conflates and distorts issues of sexual consent when he suggests that the role of the State in policing an exploitative, dangerous sex trade is the same as previous laws in Ireland, which sought to police private, consensual, homosexual acts. Yes, prostitution sex is a private act which for the most part occurs in hotels, apartments and homes in every part of Ireland, but like so many other forms of sexual abuse and sexual violence, the privatisation of commercial sexual exploitation should not protect it from public scrutiny and criminal justice.

Prostitution, however, is not only a private act; it is also an institution maintained by organised crime which the State has a responsibility to address.

Mr Wallace also seems to be unaware of the overwhelming evidence of the interconnectedness between trafficking for sexual exploitation and the sex industries of destination countries. Two recent papers by international experts demonstrate a very clear correlation between the scale of prostitution and the number of victims of trafficking with a ratio varying from 10% to 24%.

The progressive law introduced over a decade ago in Sweden regards the demand to have any person available to purchase for sex as unacceptable and a form of sexual exploitation that should be criminalised.

In recognition of the coercive and circumscribed personal and economically deprived circumstances in which girls and young women ‘choose’ to enter the sex trade, whether they are trafficked or not, those selling sex are de-criminalised.

It is critical that we consider the overwhelming evidence that it is not possible to make prostitution safe, harmless or free from abuse and sexual violence.

Monica O’Connor

Co Wicklow

© Irish Examiner Ltd. All rights reserved

[Westsidex]

Mick Wallace has an article in todays Examiner page 13 saying Turn off the red light campaign is flawed

It is flawed that's why. You cant just take a bunch of laws and stick them over something expecting them to work ffs. Whats needed is a balanced view and the problem is a lot of people who make these laws are so called pillars of society who can do no wrong or bad. The same old typical Irish older generation bullshit.

Westside.

[the traveller]

Monica O'Connor is a stooge of the ICI. She was paid by Sister Stan to write a anti-sex work report for them. She appeared before the Justice committee labelled as a member of the public, something which she certainly is not.

[His eminence]

Good Old Mick, our Hero