Prostitution exposé on RTE tomorrow night.

[Stella]

I spoke to a client recently who seems to be quite a prolific booker of young foreign ladies. He said he met with one young lady who was 19 and unbeknownst to him pregnant when they first met. She had her baby and then came back over to work intermittently to support her family. Now I think that is going to be hard for anyone to do and if there were other choices, then maybe she would take them, but... is it not better to be able to survive, to not starve and to be able to support your family doing something you are able to do, than to have no choice at all?

In an ideal world countries would not be struggling financially and there would be more choices, but most of us are in the same boat to some degree and it affects everyone, not just underprivileged people. We're all having to think on our feet and use our assets the best we can. It still doesn't mean we can't give consent and the fact that they work together while having English as a second language, means that they are not totally isolated and can speak in their Mother tongue when not working. You also learn a second language a damn site quicker when living in that country, so it isn't a permanent problem and would get easier.

The answer for me is to enforce harsher penalties on those that are abusing others and taking them against their will. Anyone working without consent needs to be protected and freed from their situation. People that are working willfully and with consent should be able to do so without fear and again the new law does not ensure that. The focus is all wrong.

Finally the rate for some of these girls sounds dreadfully low, especially for those of us that deal with sterling, but the euro has a different value in different countries and in some it stretches a lot further and it's value a lot higher. This all needs to be taken into account. If you come from a country were 300e a month is a fair wage, then all of a sudden 50e for half an hour seems a lot more reasonable. (I'm not sure that is correct, but using it as an example).

300e minumum wage in certain EE countries pretty much accurate Kate unfortunately!

[tony1]

The show made it look like 98% of escort on EI are pimps.

[wnolan1992]

300e minumum wage in certain EE countries pretty much accurate Kate unfortunately!

In Romania a police inspector would not make 300 Euro a month. The minimum wage would be around 200 Euro a month.

[dob]

300e minumum wage in certain EE countries pretty much accurate Kate unfortunately!

List of average net monthly salary in Europe.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List...y_average_wage

[dob]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List...y_average_wage

List of typical monthly salaries by job in Romania
http://www.worldsalaries.org/romania.shtml

[tony1]

The examiner on last night’s programme.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland...on-368899.html

[stillirish]

The examiner on last night’s programme.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland...on-368899.html

That is the immigrant council and not an examiner journalist.

[Stephanie]

List of average net monthly salary in Europe.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List...y_average_wage

Being unemployed in Hungary -- which is most of the countryside -- , monthly stipend is 22,000 Fts / month = 75e .

Period .

There are people in my village that get 0 govt support , even though they're of 'diminished capacity' and unable to work ---

Even if work was available . . . . Which is not .

I see young girls coming up . There's no hope , no prospects for them .

Public transport has been crippled to such extent , that kids cannot go to school beyond primary education unless

the family has a car and enough money for gas to ferry the kid to school every day . Most rural / village dwelling

people do not have such resources , the parents themselves languishing without employment , without income .

So many bright kids falling by the wayside , you see the light go out in their eyes as time goes .

Sad to see .

[Curvaceous Kate]

If the lady has no English then of course there is a third party representing her, who answers the phone if not?

Not all immigrants speak no English. Most countries do teach English as a second language.

For me making assumptions be it positive or negative is wrong. More time needs to be spent finding out the truth.

They did imply during the documentary that 98% of the advertisers here are not English or Irish and I don't think that is correct either.

Instead of saying that the present law is failing the people that are trafficked, why don't they put more effort into enforcing the present law and giving harsher sentences? Hit the heart of the problem.

As an example we have the fairly recent exposure in Northern Ireland where a lady was found to be running a brothel. All the people working for her knew what they were doing and were able to dictate what they were happy to do. They did have a 3rd person answering the phone for them, but that person was informed of their boundaries. So some do work within the limits of their workers, but likely this is not the case with all.

As I said, it is a worry, but not a forgone conclusion. No point assuming it is, when you don't have all the facts.

[meath chap]

An interesting programme and an insight to what goes on...some lies there but some truth too..