I have been informed by the Garda authorities that within the Bridewell district, which covers the Dublin 7 area, there are two plain clothes gardaí assigned to deal with incidents of prostitution. In addition to this, both regular patrols and district detective units are also involved in dealing with incidents of prostitution in the Dublin 7 area. I understand that response times are immediate in respect of the designated gardaí in the area, but that response times will vary in respect of other patrols depending on other demands at any given time.
I have further been informed that since 1 January 2005, there have been 12 prosecutions under the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 1993 in the area concerned. As the Deputy may already be aware, the legislation governing this activity is quite modern with the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 1993 being the most recent statute. Prostitution is not in itself a crime, but the law seeks to protect prostitutes from exploitation and to protect the public from certain manifestations of prostitution. It is an offence for a person, in a street or public place, to solicit or importune another person for the purposes of prostitution. The offence applies equally to a prostitute soliciting a client, a client soliciting a prostitute or a third party soliciting one on behalf of the other. The same offence and penalties apply to prostitutes, clients or anyone who solicits in a public place. It is also an offence to solicit or importune another person in order to commit certain sexual offences, such as sexual offences with underage persons or to keep or to manage a brothel.
A significant provision is that a member of the Garda Síochána, who has reasonable cause to suspect that a person is loitering in a street or public place in order to solicit for the purpose of prostitution, may direct that person to leave the scene immediately. It is then an offence not to comply with such a direction without reasonable cause. "Loitering" includes loitering in a motor vehicle and this provision therefore also applies to kerbcrawlers. In addition to its other provisions the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 1993 also extended the law on soliciting in public, which previously applied only to prostitutes and any third parties organising and profiting from prostitution.