Sir, – Regarding Senator Ivana Bacik's letter (May 31st), in which she recommends the implementation of the Oireachtas justice committee report, it should be pointed out that those investigations were themselves inadequate. The committee did not, for example, look at the New Zealand model, which has innovative ideas for addressing prostitution.
Moreover, this report is now more than three years old, and events have moved on since then, a principal one being the Amnesty International resolution of August last recommending full decriminalisation. This was based on the evidence from Amnesty International’s extensive research and that of other bodies on the lived experiences of sex workers, and on the human rights impact of various criminal law and regulatory approaches to sex work. It is supported by an impressive list of international organisations.
Finally Ms Bacik does not mention that sex workers everywhere, including Ireland, are opposed to the Swedish model and feel their views have not been taken into account in the formulation of policy.
This neglect has been a particular feature of those countries that have adopted the Swedish approach. – Yours, etc,
DAVID WALSH,
Maynooth, Co Kildare.