The Garda has strongly defended recent raids on the State's lap-dancing clubs following remarks by the new Lord Mayor of Dublin suggesting the crack-down was heavy handed.
Mr Royston Brady, in an interview in today's Irish Times magazine, indicated he believed gardaí were going over the top in clamping down on lap-dancing clubs and said he sometimes visited such clubs when he lived in the United States.
He said: "If they are a front for crime then deal with it. If it is legitimate then they are doing nobody any harm, let them off." Mr Brady added that "there are bigger issues to worry about."
Ten clubs in Dublin, Limerick, Cork, Galway and Dundalk, were raided in last June's Operation Quest in which Garda targeted international human trafficking, suspected racketeering and prostitution.
A total of 101 people, five of whom were men, were arrested and several people have appeared before the courts, including the manageress of the Dublin club, Strings, who was charged with failing to make tax returns.
The Ruhama Women's Project which works with prostitutes said yesterday it was concerned by Mr Brady's comments, as it believes lap-dancing is "part and parcel of the globalised sex industry where businessmen and criminal gangs are making a lot of money."
A spokeswoman for the organisation said: "We know from our experience that many women find themselves in this industry through lack of choices and positions of vulnerability. We do not believe that Irish citizens want an environment that creates abuse and exploitation."
Ruhama welcomed last June's Garda raids on clubs and has called for the government to consider closing down all such establishments.
In response to Mr Brady's comments, a Garda spokesman yesterday defended Operation Quest, saying it was conducted as a result of "an ongoing investigation into human trafficking and breaches of the recently passed Employment Permits Act."
He added that "it would be wrong to suggest that the Garda Síochána are targeting lap-dancing clubs per se, but where we believe there is evidence of illegal activity at any location, regardless of where it is, then it's our duty to counter those activities and take the appropriate action."
Mr Brady's relaxed attitude to the clubs contrasts with the views of the Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell who expressed concerns about prostitution in the lapdancing industry in the Seanad last April. He said there was clear evidence that people resident in Ireland of eastern European origin are "heavily involved" in trafficking in human beings, and "succeeding to some extent in normalising their activities through lap-dancing and other fronts for plain old fashioned prostitution and enslavement of women in what is called 'the sex trade'".
A spokesman for the Minister said yesterday that the Garda operation against people trafficking, money laundering and illegal immigration had his "full support".
Human rights agencies and advocates affiliated to the US-based Coalition Against Trafficking in Women intensely lobbied the government last year to end its practice of issuing work permits to lap-dancers. The government suspended issuing such permits last summer. Some of the women arrested during Operation Quest were registered here as students and some had work permits which had expired, while others were on tourist visas.
Man about the house: magazine