“RTE Investigates” programme finds prostitution is still in high demand in Letterkenny

An RTE Investigates programme on organised prostitution in Ireland has asked if the governments’ proposed new law which criminalises ‘paying for sex’ will do anything to change the situation.
The programme broadcast last night revealed that more than 100 women in prostitution rings are controlled by organised criminals.
The programme focussed on a number of areas, including Letterkenny, where it claimed some women arrested, charged and sent back to Romania last year are back in business this year.
Last night’s RTE programme recalled that in 2014 Gardai carried out a number of high profile raids at apartment blocks in Letterkenny.
The five women who were working in a brothel were charged and convicted in Letterkenny District court. They were sent back to Romania.
The programme claimed that not long after, at least two of the five women were back working in Letterkenny in 2015, where prostitution is in high demand.
One woman, the programme says, is working just a few doors from where she was arrested last year during the Garda raid.
In coming weeks, the government’s new legal approach will come before the Oireachtas, making it a crime to pay for sex with a prostitute or trafficked person. In June a similar law was introduced in Northern Ireland however with only one arrest to date, there has been limited implementation of the law.