This petition calls on the Justice Department of the Irish Government, Helen McEntee and Interim Justice Minister Simon Harris, to implement a plan for legislation which would block any website advertising sex for sale, specifically Escort Ireland.

Escort Ireland is a website founded in the 1990's by convicted pimp and former RUC officer Peter McCormack, which advertises women for 'sexual services'.

Advertising prostitution is illegal in Ireland; EI operates from a foreign jurisdiction to evade this law. It holds a monopoly over the sex trade in Ireland and in 2015 turned a profit of over 6 million. Paying for sex is also illegal, since 2017. 

On the website men can peruse women's pictures, look at their 'favourites' (sex acts the women will allegedly do) and read their 'reviews'. Men rate women out of 5 stars for 'physical appearance', 'location', 'satisfaction', 'value for money' and 'overall experience'. This is an example of a review:

They can also leave comments where they write their opinion of having sex with the woman, for example: 

'She's put on weight in the cheeks and tummy but nothing to complain about. Nice tits.'

'Perfunctory service.'

'Going through the motions.'

'Would not make eye contact with me.'

'She told me not to go too deep so I couldn't really go for it.'

'English was very good for work related things, but stray from that and you get 'sorry no English.'

'Very good main event. Great view.'

'I probably wouldn't return, because she is a bit bigger than the kind of woman I like and there wasn't really anything remarkable about her.'

'Overall very happy, she looks well and her service was good.'

'I asked for a particular favourite by text and paid for it. I didn't receive it despite paying for it.' 

'Main event was hindered as I couldn't really go for it, she was sore or tender or just didn't want me to.'

'She claimed I was too big when I asked for anal but it's on her favourites.'

'The only communication we had was through Google translate to negotiate business.'

'She provided good service, nice body but had no English at all.

'She makes loads of little noises and she's very tight.'

'No chat whatsoever. Would not make eye contact with me.'

 

The 'positive' reviews are as revelatory as the negative ones. Either it is acceptable for men to rate and review women's appearance, personality and sexual 'performance' or it is not. Money being exchanged does not negate this misogyny.

Sex traffickers have advertised women on this website. There are no consequences. Testimony from a Romanian woman called 'Anna', who wrote a 2018 book called Slave, was kidnapped off her street in London and brought to Galway. She details how the Romanian pimps made her pose for photos they put on Escort Ireland and would reprimand the victims for only getting 'three stars' on the website review system from the ordinary middle aged Irish men who 'visited' her, paid money to the pimp and ignored her bruised body, even as directly told them she was being controlled.

In thirteen days she had earned back the €30k she was bought for.

She was kept captive for nine months before escaping. Sometimes 20 men a day. Men who pay for sex do not care about the women. In order to have customers, the women must be advertised somewhere. 

Help stop EI from evading the law and profiting (in the millions) from sex crimes they facilitate. Justice Minister Helen McEntee has promised action on this. 

Last year, prostitution was named as male violence against women in the Third National Domestic, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence Strategy. Now we need to commit to that and end these websites that facilitate rape, sexual exploitation, sex trafficking and abuse, and which allow the men to review the women they exploit afterwards. This cannot happen overnight; a plan must be put in place for the women's safety. 

 

When the Ukraine war broke out, Escort Ireland wrote a blog post encouraging punters to pay for Ukranian escorts to 'live out their war inspired fantasies' and reported with some sort of pride that searches for 'Ukrainian' had gone up over 300% since the war began.

Over 100,000 Irish men regularly pay unwilling women to have sex with them. This is called rape. Then they review the woman afterwards for how well she faked enthusiasm at having to have unwanted sex. 

Women's sexuality cannot be bought, sold or given star ratings. I reject a society where sexual abuse is normalised, commercialised and ignored. 

EI have been profiting from prostitution, pimping and trafficking for over 20 years.

I am a sexual exploitation and prostitution survivor. I was rated and reviewed on this website and the degradation of that will never leave me. 

Please sign this petition and help to end Escort Ireland and all websites that facilitate this particular and very hidden form of sexual crime.

 

https://westernpeople.ie/2023/02/01/trial-hears-from-second-woman-allegedly-trafficked-to-work-as-prostitute-in-rural-ireland/​

https://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/two-women-accused-of-trafficking-brazilians-to-work-as-prostitutes-in-rural-ireland-1423442.html​

https://www.thejournal.ie/irish-pimp-escort-money-3289893-Mar2017/​

https://www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/commentanalysis/arid-20167790.html​

https://waterford-news.ie/2022/12/06/illicit-sex-trade-waterford/​

https://www.irishcentral.com/news/irish-men-buy-sex-human-trafficking​

https://motley.ie/motley-investigates-prostitution-cork-city/​

https://www.echolive.ie/corkviews/arid-40880399.html