Irish Push to Legalize Prostitution

Veronica Franco


DUBLIN, Ireland - A senior member of the Irish police force has said that prostitutes working in the capital are now making significantly more money than they can earn in most other European cities, and that local law-makers should consider legalizing the business. Like in the UK, prostitution itself is not illegal in the Republic of Ireland, but the law criminalizes many activities associated with it.


Detective Superintendent John McKeown, who heads several investigations into brothel-keeping, told the Irish Independent that there is no evidence that any of the girls are being forced into prostitution, none is underage and most keep 50 percent of their earnings.

McKeown went on to say that the oldest profession in the world is experiencing similar benefits of the booming economy as other industries, and he believes that politicians should consider legalization.

“We have carried out an in-depth investigation into organized prostitution over the past 18 months and we have found no evidence of exploitation or trafficking,” McKeown told the Irish Independent. “There are no gangs involved and there is little violence.”

“The youngest girls appear to be 19 and most are in their 20’s and early 30’s. We have found no evidence of underage girls working - the pimps don't want to bring that kind of attention on themselves. The girls are working because they want to make money and Dublin is somewhere that they can earn a lot of money," Detective Superintendent McKeown continued.

“I was very surprised when we started this investigation to find that a lot of the old myths regarding prostitution have gone out the window. To put it simply, there is room for everyone and plenty of work.

“The pimps know one another and work side by side. They don't want trouble and there are rarely disputes."

The report said that Polish, Slovenian and Lithuanian girls make up the vast majority of foreign prostitutes working in Dublin. They work in six to twelve months stints, then return to their homelands with money to invest or save.

McKeown’s investigations have also looked into a number of gentlemen’s clubs but say they have found no breaches of the law within that industry and no exploitation.

“We do not go after the girls…we wouldn't even consider doing that. It is the organizers that we are interested in. But the fact is that prostitution is here to stay and perhaps it is time that our legislators started to consider making it legal and getting a proper handle on it.”

Sex Toys Outlawed in Mississippi

From Dan Abrams:



There is a landmark legal battle of constitutional proportions being fought down in Mississippi. It involves fundamental rights protected by the First and Fourteenth Amendments, not to mention the rights of certain small business owners to satisfy their customers. This week, another court refused to recognize Mississippians’ right to find companionship for 29.99 and so a law outlawing the sale of sex toys will stand.

“A person commits the offense of distributing unlawful sexual devices when he knowingly sells, advertises, publishes or exhibits to any person any three-dimensional device designed or marketed as useful primarily for the stimulation of human genital organs or offers to do so or possesses such devices with the intent to do so.”

Well, I am glad to see that the local legislators are focusing on the most pressing issues of the day. I’ve long believed that a three-dimensional, possibly battery-operated device is far more menacing than a handgun. In Mississippi, people can buy guns at a gun show with no background check and certain weapons can be carried almost anywhere. Sure, guns and toys can bring joy and a sense of comfort to the user, but apparently the legislators concluded that a genital replica is a far greater threat to society.

This, from a state that levies only an 18-cent tax on cigarettes, 55 cents below the national average and where 62 percent of residents are overweight, making it the fattest state in the country. Yet still the public schools don’t make gym class compulsory. Mississippi’s laws would make you believe sex is the single greatest threat to public safety and well-being. After all, it’s illegal in Mississippi to have sex with someone you’re not married to or to live with someone other than your spouse.

Both can result in a $500 fine and six months in jail. And men are not permitted to be aroused in public. But at least good people are protected from the disfigurement that could result from an accidental electrical overload from a defective toy.

Georgia and Texas have passed similar bans and courts have repeatedly ruled the legislators have the power to do it. I guess the Second Amendment doesn’t say anything about the right to bear a stimulation device.

But the sex activists are not closing up shop in the South Pole just yet. They formed a lobbying group based in Florida called the National Alliance of Adult Trade Organizations or NAATO. Not, of course, to be confused with the other NATO, which is based in Brussels.

I don’t mean to pick on Mississippi. I love the state and the people, but I just don’t get why the legislators are fighting so hard for this law. We’re talking about adults here. It’s not that I really care about ensuring that these toys are ready accessible. Really. It’s just that you have to wonder, is one of these toys really a greater threat to the community than what real live people do to each other every day?