Sir, – I refer to Eamon Devoy's response (Letters, December 31st) to Fionola Meredith's article (Opinion, December 28th). Meredith points to the role of Ruhama and Immigrant Council in driving the Turn Off the Red Light campaign. This campaign has been in preparation for several years and is motivated by the ideology of radical feminism with some religious fundamentalism thrown in. The two organisations are core members of the campaign; they initiated it, organised it with other groups, recruited other civic organisations including trade unions, provided the narrative and altogether controlled the agenda. Meredith is correct to point this out.
The trade unions which supported the campaign, including Mr Devoy’s TEEU, have some questions to answer. First, did any of them seek out alternative views to those proposed to them? If not, why not? This issue has been debated in several countries in recent years and there are strong opposing views. Second, did TEEU or indeed any of the unions hold a ballot of its members to ascertain their views before committing to Turn Off the Red Light? If they did not, how can they be so sure they correctly reflect union position on this highly contentious issue? The real story of how the unions came to sign up for this campaign needs to be told, whether there was internal opposition to the move and how that was dealt with.
Finally, Mr Devoy states the reason TEEU signed up was because of trafficking into the sex trade. Clearly it accepted the claim that human trafficking for sexual purposes and prostitution are effectively identical. This conflation of two separate phenomena most definitely suited the campaign agenda and was designed to sway wavering supporters or those with misgivings otherwise. This conflation was also challenged at the hearings before the Justice Committee and has been condemned both by the UN Global Commission on HIV and the Law 2012 and the UNAIDS advisory group on HIV and Sex Work 2011. The union support for Turn Off the Red Light was a crucial factor in its success so far and was seized upon by the Justice Committee as evidence that a broad cross-section of Irish society was in favour of the Swedish model and an important factor in its decision to recommend it for legislation. It coloured the whole conduct of the hearings, ensuring that Turn Off the Red Light was accorded the great bulk of time allotted, while the opposition was not afforded sufficient time to even make a proper case. Were these considerations weighed properly by the unions before they made their decision? – Yours, etc,
DAVID WALSH,
Rockfield,
Maynooth, Co Kildare.