THE Green Party MEP and spokeswoman on justice has called on the Government to decriminalise prostitution. Ms Patricia McKenna said "prostitution is not going to go away and any mature and responsible government would wake up to that realisation".
She was commenting on claims by prostitutes that violence against them had risen considerably in the three years since new penalties for prostitution were introduced. At a conference in UCD last weekend, a prostitute claimed she knew of four prostitutes who have been raped and abused by clients in one week last month.
"The tough penalties which prostitutes face are facilitating violence against them," Ms McKenna said. "The penalties are pushing them out on to the streets, rather than allowing them to work in massage parlours where at least they can be in the company of others and have some chance of saying no to a client."
Prostitution "should not be encouraged, but penalising those who have been driven, usually because of poverty, to resort to this activity is not the answer, particularly when their clients have effectively got protection from arrest".