back to article Irish politicos try to cut off call girls' mobiles

The simplest and most effective way to crack down on prostitutes is to take their mobile phones away - so said Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim) during Dáil justice questions last week. Naughten claimed that one of the conclusions of Operation Quest - a dedicated Garda operation against brothel-keeping - was that " …

COMMENTS

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Linux

    How is our war on the oldest profession going then?

    Whats that you say? We lost it years ago? Then why not legalise it, organise it and tax it accordingly. Or is it because this Government really cannot organise a **** up in a brothel?

    Hump your way out of recession lads!

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    and that will really make a difference...

    Yawn, how much does a new pay-as-you-go phone cost?

    Pointless and ineffectual.

  3. Adrian Challinor
    Thumb Up

    seven deadly sims

    That was classic!

  4. Francis Fish
    Unhappy

    Please - sort out the economy

    I.e. Do your job dumbo

    And butt out of the rest of what consenting people do in privacy

    Never used these services, but don't want politicians making cheap capital out of it either,.

  5. Mike Street

    They're Right

    After all, prostitution didn't exist before mobiles, did it?

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    criminalise sex with trafficked women

    perhaps men wouldn't be out paying for sex with trafficked women, if they could go to a nice legal brothel. It would be safer all around, regulated, taxed, etc.

    i'd love to hear some good reasons behind it being illegal in the first place, aside from historical prudishness, and religion.

  7. Martin
    Paris Hilton

    I don't quite get it...

    George Carlin said it best. "Selling is legal. F***ing is legal. Why isn't selling f***ing legal?" and "why should it be illegal to sell something it's perfectly legal to give away for free?"

    Seems we ought to answer those questions first.

    Do I really need to explain why Paris?

  8. b166er

    I agree.

    I think it's shocking that these women are allowed to take advantage of men in this way.

  9. James Pickett

    7 deadly sims

    V. good!

    I also like this - I'm sure you could adapt it: Beauty is only sin deep (Saki).

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Stop

    Typically gormless moral minority

    It stands to reason that if you make activities like running a brothel illegal then, surprise surprise, it'll attract criminal elements who'll go to any lengths to make money out of it. Criminals love people trafficking because it's not regarded, for some bizarre reason, as being as serious as trafficking drugs so, even if you're caught, the penalties are less severe. So, what do they do? They combine people trafficking and brothel keeping because it's a nice, big, low risk earner.

    The sensible thing to do, given that prostitution is currently actually legal, is to licence brothels run by prostitutes themselves. They could then have the protection of the police, regular medical checks and the unmitigated joy of paying taxes. The majority of men will then frequent the legal brothels and the illegal ones will die a death, reducing/eliminating the attraction of sex trafficking and the social harm of the activity.

    Legalise most drugs too while we're at it and we'll increase tax revenue, starve criminals of income and free up some space in our prisons for MPs.

  11. adnim

    Human rights

    It is a woman/mans right to sell their body for sex should they so wish.

    Puritanical interference in the conduct of consenting adults is disgusting, prostitution isn't.

    No I don't use whores. I just go into a bar, lick my eyebrows, and the girls just queue up ;-)

  12. John Imrie
    Happy

    Quick fix for traficking

    1) Licence brothels

    2) Make it a criminal offence to run an unlicensed brothel, with an unlimited fine, but minimum 1 years gross takings from the enterprise and a minimum of 10 years, maximum life imprisonment for the owner(s) of the brothel.

    3) Do NOT make it illegal to visit an unlicensed brothel.

    4) Divide up 50% of the fine amongst all those who reported the brothel to the police.

    5) Do NOT deport the prostitutes.

    6) On no account let the Daily Wail know you are planning on doing this until the day *AFTER* the election.

  13. Mark York Silver badge
    Paris Hilton

    politicians making cheap capital out of it either

    "Never used these services, but don't want politicians making cheap capital out of it either,"

    I'd not be surprised if politicians have ben found to make a few expenses claims under (or on top of) "entertainment" for those services.

    Paris because she probably forgets to charge for her services.

  14. Michael Tripper

    so you force them to work street corners?

    Religious fanatics in government are killing us with their stupidity.

  15. Len

    And how does he know this?

    How does he know that mobile phones are the lifeblood of erm...ahem.....old professionals????

    Was he privy to this information first hand? Maybe it was part of his (Irish) 'legal' ministerial expenses!!!

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    One wonders how prostitution was conducted

    in those far-off days before mobile phones were invented. Presumably the skillset required was similar to that used to negotiate journeys between different inhabited places prior to the invention of satnav

  17. Anonymous Coward
    Joke

    And there I was thinking....

    ...that legalised prostitution had the backing of the Catholic Church, after all they like to officiate at marriages don't they?

  18. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    @A/C 1st June 15:42

    Mixed metaphor. It's a "piss up in a brewery", or an "orgy in a brothel/whorehouse"

    But apart from that you're spot on!

  19. Jared Vanderbilt

    Out of the internet cafes and back onto the streets.

    There's an electronic crumb left by phone-a-ho. It's much more discrete for a politico to snatch a knobber from the curb.

  20. Christoph

    So this would explain ...

    ... why prostitution never existed in all the thousands of years before the invention of the mobile phone?

    Once NuLab have criminalised the act of paying for sex, presumably all restaurants will be required to keep a database of who paid for what meals and who was eating, so the police can arrest any man who paid the bill for a meal where a woman was present. Jewellery shops will similarly need to report who was buying jewellery that might be given to a woman.

    This will obviously then need to be extended to cover every single financial transaction anywhere in the country. After all, if it saves one trafficked woman!

  21. Brezin Bardout

    So does that mean..

    If prostitution is so reliant on mobile phones, does that mean before mobile phones there was no prostitution?

    Surely these people must be able to see that less prostitutes using phones to set up business simply means more prostitutes soliciting on the streets. Unless of course they think everyone is so reliant on mobile phones nowadays that prostitutes will have forgotten how to communicate without them and just go out and get a nice office job or something.

  22. LaeMi Qian

    We will eliminate 'call' girls...

    ...by taking away their phones. They they will be forced back to being 'street' girls. Ergo, no more 'call' girls, government strategy is a success.

    While the exploitation of people in this profession is horrid, I am all in favour of allowing people who willingly enter the field to practice safely and legally. As in licensing with regular medical checks, access to law enforcement for personal protection, all the socially useful things that criminalisation stops happening.

  23. Michael
    Unhappy

    I reckon...

    ... it's them damn cameraphones they had the problem with.

    http://regmedia.co.uk/2009/05/28/emma_kiernan_facebook.jpg

    Doubt the TD's would look half as good..... BTW, whats their criteria? A girl could claim she's just...really... really ....popular?And whaddabout the rent boys? Sexism, i tell you!

  24. John Murgatroyd

    What about the rest...

    Seems that the policing and crime bill (see link in the article) is taking a hit to sex clubs as well.....soon it'll be illegal to **** anyone, anytime, anywhere. That will solve the population problem.

  25. Charles Manning

    Sourpuss MPs

    Considering how often MPs get caught with their pants down, they're probably just annoyed that phones are making the prostitution market work better and they're having problems getting sex when they want it.

    Prostitution manages to thrive regardless of technology or law. They might as well ban men from driving cars (after all no John driving around means no pick up).

    But really, isn't it just easier to legalise? Here in NZ prostitution is now legal which has helped protect the workers and, not doubt, has cut down on blackmail etc.

  26. Gene Strong

    Irish Politocos seek to cut off Call Girls

    Since when do Politicians get to cut off Call Girls ?

    If anyone needs to be cut off it is the Politicos..

  27. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    RE: I don't get it

    "Selling is legal. F***ing is legal. Why isn't selling f***ing legal?"

    It is legal. It's the brothels and kerb crawling that aren't.

    Anyway, I agree with properly licensing brothels. It's a lot safer for the women (and men) and would do more to stop trafficking then criminalising sex with trafficked women.

  28. Anonymous Coward
    Unhappy

    Amsterdam

    Using Amsterdam as an example "they have been too liberal" is just bollocks, the reason the dutch govt are clamping down more on prostitutes and weed in Amsterdam is because they have these nutter christian right-wing GW Bush-era-arsekissers in power! It's not a reflection on actual crime rates/figures, they are prudes with their own adgenda to control everyone's lives which has been the norm for western states since 11/9!

    These states need to take a leaf out of NZ's book as someone posted earlier, they have the right ideas and are showing some progression.

    It really pisses me off that for the sake of some glorified civil-servant twat saving face, the rest of the population suffers again and again, be it wars, laws and gernaral paranoia.

    Cnuts the lot of em.

  29. Chris
    Pirate

    Protecting the poor girls from life in the sex slavery

    Eh like the majority of comments i would say legalize and regulate and tax it... How can you regulate a service that isn't legal?

    Same thing with certain soft drugs, grow them under a strict set of rules and then sell the produce regulated... After all Tobacco is legal and kills thousands of people every year (EVEN IT people).

    Besides this shouldnt our politicians be doing their REAL jobs opposed to nonsense proposals like this?

  30. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Render them impotent.

    Does anyone believe for one moment that Irish politicians are any less hypocritical and corrupt than their counterparts in the UK?

    It's a fine thing when a working girl can't turn over an honest euro without some grandstanding politico shoving his oar in. And knowing politicians as we do, that wouldn't be 'shoving his oar in' in the purely metaphorical sense.

    Ireland is a short footfall away from bankruptcy thanks to the sleepwalking tendencies of our ignorant politicians so from now on, as far as I am concerned, they can all go and fuck themselves for a change.

  31. Lottie
    Joke

    They say prostitution....

    ....is the oldest profession.

    Problem is, whenever I turn up to a meeting looking like a whore, I get told it's unprofessional!!!

  32. Nameless Faceless Computer User

    Amsterdam

    Amsterdam reduced red light windows and coffeeshops which were deemed to be connected to organized crime. The reason why soft drugs and prostitution are permitted is to reduce crime and to provide revenue to the city through taxation. Drug use is illegal in Amsterdam (yes, even weed) - it's just that the city has selective enforcement e.g. they don't sweat the small stuff. They respect personal freedoms and provide an atmosphere in which people may better themselves.

  33. Yorkshirepudding
    Joke

    father ted

    anyone remember 'priest chat' ;-)

  34. Anonymous Coward
    Happy

    JiminOz

    May I recommend the purchase of shares in the "Daily Planet" brothel in Melbourne? Legal and by all reports well run, taxes paid, staff health checked.

  35. Anonymous Coward
    Paris Hilton

    @Lottie

    Any photos? We'd all be quite happy to pre-approve your outfits. Eh, lads?

    Paris looks to be a fine role model to me.

  36. Dave
    Go

    Skype?

    Sounds like time for these girls to go a little more high-tech - lets see the Gov block Skype!

    Also, if they want to ban ALL mobile phones then I would be quite happy - not least because that would kill off the Crazy Frog for ever as well.

  37. Anonymous Coward
    Alert

    English Please

    "In addition, those opposed to prostitution point to the dreadful and exploited conditions of those who work as prostitutes,"

    Shouldn't this be "exploitive" rater than "exploited"? Unless of course it is the furnishings that are being exploited rather than the prostitutes.

  38. h4rm0ny
    Paris Hilton

    @all the people...

    ...who are arguing that prostitution should be legalised... it is. At least in the UK. What is illegal is profiting from another's prostitution and a few decency constraints such as not being allowed to solicit on the street. It is right that someone shouldn't be able to directly profit from another person selling sex. But if a woman or man wants to do so for their own gain rather than for someone else's, then they're legally free to do so, put an ad up on adultwork.co.uk, etc.

    Now Ireland might be a different matter, but a lot of the comments here seem to think they're talking about the UK.

    Paris - because some people are smarter about profiting from sex than others.

  39. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    @h4m0ny

    Is it right that somebody else can't profit from it though?

    That stops anybody working in the sex industry from employing people to do things like security or administration.

  40. crypt
    Linux

    Repeat after me....

    Legalise - Regulate - Tax - Advertise - Profit

    That is all.

  41. Anonymous Coward
    Joke

    diggedy diggedy

    Nothing like a high-tech solution to stamp out the world's oldest profession. I suspect we'll be trading our personal DNA samples against birth control equipment, real soon now. So where did we find these upstanding law-enforcement types? I suspect they are regular Reg readers.

  42. Anonymous Coward
    Paris Hilton

    Not just trafficked women

    " would, in its original form, have had the effect of criminalising men for having sex with a trafficked woman."

    No, it would've criminalised men for having sex with prostitutes who were trafficked, or who had a pimp, or worked in brothels, or potentially even just if they were drug users. The definition goes way beyond just trafficking; this is probably intentional, since it's quite a small issue. (Of course, there's also the issue that a lot of the women brought into the country to work in prostitution knew what they were getting into.)

    Paris Hilton icon, because there's more than one way of making money from sex.

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