Journal.ie's Fact Check on 'Decriminalisation of Sex Work' Claimed in Upcoming Bill

[The Libertarian]

Journal.ie does an extensive fact check on claims by TORLERS that the 2015 Bill, which will no doubt form the basis of any upcoming one will effectively decriminalise sex work for service providers and this is the conclusion - MOSTLY FALSE!

http://www.thejournal.ie/sexual-offe...81672-Sep2016/

This excellent article also provides links to the 2015 Bill and previous anti sex worker/ anti sex work ones in The Republic!

[TonyB]

That's a right bugger of an proposed law.
Everything I do will be illegal.

[Dom Dunn]

Journal.ie does an extensive fact check on claims by TORLERS that the 2015 Bill, which will no doubt form the basis of any upcoming one will effectively decriminalise sex work for service providers and this is the conclusion - MOSTLY FALSE!

http://www.thejournal.ie/sexual-offe...81672-Sep2016/

This excellent article also provides links to the 2015 Bill and previous anti sex worker/ anti sex work ones in The Republic!

Good article which is fairly definitive in terms of its conclusion.
With respect to the proposed new section 7A "payment etc. for sexual activity with a prostitute which creates an offence for a person "who pays,gives, offers or promises to pay a person (including a prostitute) is somewhat unclear. Does it mean that it is a crime to pay "any person" for sex or is it only a crime to pay a certain "class of person" i.e. a prostitute for sex.
The proposed legislation does not define prostitute but it does define "sexual activity" and the definition is fairly vague which appears to allow scope for the cops to bust a wide range of persons who may not consider themselves to be prostitutes e.g lap dancers.
To my relatively untrained legal eye this appears rather more political than legal in content and is certain to be challenged in the courts. I think Fitzgerald is well out of her depth on this and there was good reasons why the much maligned previous MOJ kicked to touch on this one.

[The Libertarian]

Good article which is fairly definitive in terms of its conclusion.
With respect to the proposed new section 7A "payment etc. for sexual activity with a prostitute which creates an offence for a person "who pays,gives, offers or promises to pay a person (including a prostitute) is somewhat unclear. Does it mean that it is a crime to pay "any person" for sex or is it only a crime to pay a certain "class of person" i.e. a prostitute for sex.
The proposed legislation does not define prostitute but it does define "sexual activity" and the definition is fairly vague which appears to allow scope for the cops to bust a wide range of persons who may not consider themselves to be prostitutes e.g lap dancers.
To my relatively untrained legal eye this appears rather more political than legal in content and is certain to be challenged in the courts. I think Fitzgerald is well out of her depth on this and there was good reasons why the much maligned previous MOJ kicked to touch on this one.

Fitzgerald is abundantly out of her depth!
If the relevant section makes it illegal to pay/promise to pay for sex with a 'prostitute' then we would be back in a situation which was thrown out by the supreme court in the past, i.e. the concept of a 'common Prostitute'! Technically, if that was the wording and I offered her 50 cents for OWO with a full swallow, I wouldnt br doing anything illegal because as far as we know the lovely Minister is not and has never been a 'prostitute'! Also surely to be categorised for ever more as a prostitute, you would have to be convicted as one in the first place and how can you be permanently described as one forever?
Fitgerald is a 'conviction' politician and the one major conviction that she has on this one is that she is a feminist, but a 'feminist' on her own terms!

[EIFII]

Fitzgerald is abundantly out of her depth!

Which makes her an ideal candidate for next leader of Fine Gael

[The Libertarian]

Which makes her an ideal candidate for next leader of Fine Gael

There is no way that The Blueshirts will have her as their next fuhrer or a gay man who is one of the prominent contenders either, but it actually has nothing to do with either of their abilities or lack of them!

[Clueless]

So what is the current state of play- has any legislation been passed lately ?

[f1 away]

Will we have to post the money
To the escort

[Dom Dunn]

So what is the current state of play- has any legislation been passed lately ?

The Dáil starts back again next week and it is likely to be on the order of business soon after. It is hard to say how long it will take to pass though both houses but it may be on the statute books before Christmas.
The current wording could of course be amended during this process. Before we all start getting into trouble with the law it needs to be signed by the wee man in the park and then a start date is announced probably sometime in the new year.
Some of us hope a court case due to start this week in the High Court in Belfast may influence a rethink down here but that is probably wishful thinking because no judgement favourable or otherwise is likely in this matter for some time.
One thing which may happen is that any new law may be immediately challenged down here which is likely too see a situation develop where the Cops/DPP are unlikely to prosecute offenders until the legal issues(of which there are many) are resolved. So we may not have to post the money in advance for some time yet!!