I write in response to Ronit Lentin’s column of 15 August (‘Legislate against the sex trade’). I welcome open and fair discussion on all aspects of the sex trade and State policy. With this in mind I suggest that your readers might be interested in reading what my research actually says.
Two pieces in particular are easily available on the internet. These are a report titled ‘The Nature and Extent of Trafficking of Women into Ireland for the Purposes of Sexual Exploitation 2000-2006: a report from findings’, published by the SSRC in NUI Galway in 2006 (tinyurl.com/mm9d2wk), and an article titled ‘Prostitution and the Irish State: From Prohibitionism to a Globalised Sex Trade’, published in Irish Political Studies in 2011.
Dr Eilís Ward
School of Political Science and Sociology, NUI Galway
