Madam, - The alleged downloading of child pornography by a judge of the district court has caused a sustained political and legal furore.
Contrast that with the lack of political reaction to recent reports about missing non-national children who may have gone into "the sex industry" and women trafficked illegally into the country for the same purposes.
The "sex industry" is the term coined by self-anointed liberals and the media to impose their new amoral orthodoxy on us. The term clearly seeks to sanitise and normalise activities such as prostitution, pornography, lap-dancing, etc. These are now presented as part of the entertainment industry.
But just what type of "work" would a child be doing in the sex industry? Surely this should be described as "molestation by paedophiles"? Similarly, trafficked women have usually been abducted or deceived and taken from another country to Ireland, where they are forced into prostitution through threats and violence. Surely that constitutes kidnapping and rape?
The term "sex industry" may be appropriate where these activities are engaged in between freely consenting adults. But let's call a spade a spade when it comes to the violent criminality of much of this sordid business. And let us demand immediate and robust legal action against those who profit from it. - Yours, etc,
PETER MOLLOY, Haddington Park, Glenageary, Co Dublin.
Madam, - Tonight's (May 8th) 2006) Prime Time programme on trafficking highlighted the lives of extreme violence and poverty that trafficked children and young women endure.
It was an excellent, thought-provoking documentary.
Sadly, however, this programme did not address one central issue: if men were not willing to buy women for sex in the first instance, then quite obviously the demand and market simply would not exist.
Perhaps Irishmen could lead the way by saying no to the sex of prostitution. - Yours, etc,
INGRID WALLACE, Dooradoyle, Limerick.