The Truth about Irelands Sex Industry

If you are a regular reader of my blog, you will know that I have very little time for FG. They are hiding behind an ideology that even many within their ranks fail to understand. The have sucked the labour party into their lair. One such purveyor of ideological nonsense is Alan Shatter. I cringe when he appears on RTE news spouting government propaganda. Yet some of us have long memories. Whilst the rejuvenated FF, try to spin the working classes. I remember a time when they vehemently opposed divorce and sided with the now discredited Catholic Church on issues of morality. Paradoxically I now place hope in Alan Shatter, as in that moral silly season he was brave about divorce and personal morality. More recently he spoke in the daíl regarding abortion. He threw a pipe bomb into the bland and fearful stance taken by FG on the issue. I admire him for that.

Now he has to consider legislation in relation to the Irish sex industry. This is another hangover from the Catholic dictatorship, and we have failed to regulate for it. Worryingly some county and city councils have voted to petition the minister. They want to adopt the Swedish model which criminalises those who buy sex. This is all high and mighty but it is totally flawed. This model came to be through the endeavours of some ultra feminist members of the Swedish parliament. It has changed the industry I am not denying that. But it has also failed miserably in that it has driven the industry underground. What was once under control is no longer. The clear message from the Swedish experience is that prostitution will always be with us. The question is how do we as a society deal with it?

We have other choices. We can look at the German model. The sex industry in Germany is controlled by the state. Those that choose to work in the industry are treated like any worker. They pay taxes and have access to healthcare. There is no question of forced prostitution or human trafficking. The people who use the sex industry, i.e.- those who buy sex—are not criminalised. The system works very well. It provides a safe working environment for sex workers and for their clients.

In Ireland like in so many areas of personal morality we tend to leave the sex industry to the sleaze mongers. This inherited moral void is passed down through generations of moral cowardice. The Catholic Church set out our morality for us at the foundation of the state. We must always be outwardly pure—we export or abortion problem and hide our prostitution issue. This moral dictate came from an organisation that with government collusion systemically raped boys and girls and covered it up.

But let us not lay all of the blame for this at the door of the Catholic Church. We the citizens have failed to act on this also. It is akin to our attitude on drug abuse—let us criminalise all that we find objectionable and distasteful. Why do we choose to do this? Is it easier for us to face each other in the knowledge that we don’t have things like abortion and prostitution in Ireland? But we do—we send thousands of women abroad for abortions every year. Prostitution is rampant in every city and large town in Ireland. Yet it is in the hands of criminals. The people who work in the industry are unprotected against ruthless pimps. Young girls are trafficked from foreign countries to work in these seedy and dangerous back street brothels. It is an appalling system which only serves the criminal. TV 3 make silly documentaries and the Sunday World write patronising titillating muck about it.

The other aspect in all of this is the question of sexuality. Our attitudes to sex and what it means to us as individuals and as a society. Do we adopt the Catholic model and regard sex as a procreational device shamefully handed down by God. Or do we see sex and sexuality as a holistic gift? How does a society decide who should engage in sexual activity and who should not. Obviously we try to protect minors and quite rightly we associate active sexuality with maturity. But where does society’s intervention stop. Are we implicitly saying that sexual relations can only happen between two consenting adults? Does this not exclude people from enjoying sex like those without regular partners? Are people with disabilities not entitled to have sex? Let us remind ourselves that not a million years ago people were told to confine sexual activity to marriage. Even then they were denied contraception and vital information regarding reproduction—all in an effort to produce more Catholics.

Alan Shatter has a problem. We are still a conservative and closed society. Politicians are afraid of reactionary Ireland. The idea of legalising and controlling our sex industry is an appalling one to many. They would prefer it seems to leave it with the criminals. Then they can righteously refer to prostitution as dirty and unclean. TV3 can continue with their undercover sensationalism. The Sunday world can continue to titillate and patronise. The men and women who buy sex can continue to wander the dark alleys in search of gratification. Many of these people are isolated from the happy safe world most of us inhabit. Some are locked in loveless marriages others are single. Many have disabilities others suffer from mental illness. There are those also who just seek pleasure and comfort. How can a person in Hamburg legally go to a brothel? Pay for a sexual encounter with a person who is safe—well paid and is voluntarily doing their work? The government tax this encounter.

Yet in Ireland a person doing the same thing is taking their chances with their health. The person offering the sex may be forced into the situation. The profit goes to a sleazy pimp and who knows what goes on with drugs and violence associated with the whole process. I think people should have a basic human right to pay for sex if they need to. It is obvious that Alan Shatter will have his hands tied by the moral hacks.
Now they are proposing to criminalise those isolated people who buy sex—and in doing so will make an already dangerous business even worse.

The End

How did the neoliberals sell the citizen the concept of private health insurance? It is for me the biggest trick of all. I know deep down how it worked. It was because the people were frightened. If people are frightened like sheep they will run off the cliff. You see if you underfund something and make it damned uncomfortable for folk, they will be be fearful of it. Create long waiting lists poor facilities and wards that are crowded. That is how it is done.

Once you have private health insurance then you get private hospitals of course. Once again this serves the frightened. Irish society has been divided since the foundation of the state. We have a small underclass, and a large working class. In modern times we have a growing middle-class. This in reality is manufactured or should I say was manufactured by lending and access to credit. There are of course other factors also such as citizens investing in education.

Yet as the state evolved so did its divisions. Thus the concept of private medicine. Basically a state that operates a two tiered health service is admitting that it has ideologically failed its citizens. The government is refusing ideologically to treat it citizens on an equitable basis. To do this the state would have to demand much higher income tax, and divide the premium to care for its people. But the ideological choice was to create mayhem in the public health service, whilst the private sector prospered.

Even now mid-recession the advertisments for private health cover are prevelant. We have stupid and poorly conceived adverts telling us that without VHI or Laya healthcare you are screwed if you get ill. Often these adverts are targeted towards young mothers with small children. The message is clear if you dont have a good plan you are not a good Mum?

Recently I had cause to visit one of our flagship private Dublin hospitals with an elderly relative. I was amazed, this place was like a hotel. Beautifully done airy with lots of space. The wards were super modern and the nursing staff friendly and efficent. I commented on this to a good friend whom has worked at the coalface in the public system for over twenty five years. He told me that the public system was ready to burst at the seams. There is a permanent shortage of beds, and of nursing staff and supporting care workers.

I reflected on my observation that the private sector was awash with nurses who appeared to have alot of time on their hands. The system was peaceful and calm. So how did this happen. Why is the state funded system in such disarray? Most consultants work between the two systems, so the level of patient care is not in question. What is questionable however is the privacy and comfort of patients. Also the length of time it takes to get a diagnosis through the public system.

There is something rotten with an ideology that divides its citizens on the grounds of ability to pay. It makes a mockery of the idea of citizenism and statehood. This particular private hospital is a shrine to neoliberalism and the middle-class greed and fear as induced by the celtic tiger.
I await the citizens roar to disturb what is a very silent place.

Citizenism

It is the worst of times one can say so with impunity. There are times when a person could feel they have woken from a bad dream. I try to engage my business honestly each day. As a writer of fiction I can run and hide in my stories. I can wallow in the imperfections of my characters. Sometimes I even seek solace with them—marvelling at their heroics or their restrained emotions.

Yet it extremely difficult to get away from the news. The spin—the billion euro radio, where small people rattle off sums with an air of superiority. It is like they are saying ‘I mean billions like, I actually said billions not millions!’ The spin continues, and life but not as we knew it goes on.

Politics is a funny business. Politicians are very funny individuals especially within the framework of what we would like to term our democracy. FG for example has
around 35,000 members. This from a population of 4.5 million. Labour would have far less than this. Yet we charged them to battle for our economy free us citizens from bank debt—and create a universal health plan. None of these things has happened. Mainly for ideological reasons in FG. For example the government chose to pay unsecured bondholders.

If you read up on FG they are referred to as right of centre—or Christian democrats whatever that means? But both FG and FF their ideological brothers have stripped this state, and namely you and I the citizen of our natural resources. So when they say that the country is broke and that we must tighten our belts, they are in fact lying. This country is not broke? It struggles because the citizen has no access to his and her assets. They have destroyed our fishing industry which is larger in area than our land mass itself. They have given away our oil and gas and other valuable resources to their friends in high places.

There are many other areas where we as citizens have been robbed. There is a huge potential in forestry and agricultural food processing. But the state sits back and does nought, threatening people with disabilities and bus passes. You see fellow citizens we don’t have a state any longer. We have a government that is unrepresentative of the citizen. It is choked by the outdated and undemocratic whip system. It is served by radio and television and newspapers that serve its interests and propaganda.

One can argue in these blogs for a miraculous conversion to socialism or indeed social justice. But the spin doctors pour boiling water on any ideologies save for neoliberal. Does anyone remember the series of silly speeches made by Enda Kenny? The man was demented—he spoke at length about job creation, and how the entrepreneur was standing by to save the day. I wrote at the time that I couldn’t wait for Enda to part the Irish sea and I would watch in awe as the entrepreneurial hordes marched on us with their jobs. They didn’t and Enda was lying as usual.

This government is anti state. They are bereft of policy. Only state intervention will create the jobs we need in sufficient numbers to refloat our economy. But how can a state intervene if we don’t have a state, but only government. Using the natural resources I have listed above and investing in indigenous projects is the way to job creation. The government I presume deep down know this so what is holding them back. The IMF—or the ECB—I seriously doubt it. What is holding them back is their fascist like adherence to a failed ideology. There is no room for citizenship or state within the confines of neoliberal thinking. So how can a government so slavishly ruled by this philosophy do the right thing by the very citizens they have no respect for?

There will be another general election but it may be a few years away yet. They bank on the notion that their ideology is in vogue. The opposition is more of the same well FF anyhow. The social democrats in the Labour party are proven worms, spineless and traitors to their fellow citizens. So we are left with capitalism and the unrealistic unworkable, against human nature socialism. Well how about a good dose of Irish citizenism—something new and very radical.

Why we need Austerity!

There seems to be some confusion in Irish politics. Indeed the electorate in the main are poorly informed about politics in general. We rely on Government sponsored radio and television. Our newspapers are owned and run by very wealthy people who have a vested interest in maintaining the type of society in which we exist.

The confusion as I see it is about choice and the way we form our political opinions. People don’t dare to question the failed system that his led us to the brink of ruin, and we imagine this system will somehow pull the rabbit from the hat and save us. But it won’t because it can’t? Capitalism doesn’t work for the majority of citizens. By its very nature capitalism is selective about those it rewards.

If one is to examine its history it is like the worse excesses of soviet communism, capitalism is dominated by a tiny minority. But these people hold and control the purse strings. So independent states like Ireland have to trade their sovereignty in order to fund its public services. This loss of sovereignty is not just fiscal—but it also erodes our sense of nationhood. The result is catastrophic—soon this contagion will destroy the very fabric of our communities.

The word Austerity has been misused in relation to all of this. Austerity is badly needed after all of the greed and the credit bubble. We as citizens are responsible for the creation of the Celtic tiger—the silly property deals and the mortgage explosion. Each one of us bought into this ideologically driven sham.
Austerity is badly needed—but my problem is with the brand of austerity currently in vogue,it is concentrated exclusively on the poor and disadvantaged.

The well off can absorb austerity with far more comfort than the old and the sick. Yet this Government ideologically have chosen to exclusively punish the poor for the failures in the capitalism system. However what worries me most is the level of compliance shown by our citizens. When voters go to the polls in the next general election where will they cast their vote?

Well we have our FG—suits who claim that AIB bank are so vital to our economic future—that we must pay one billion to unsecured bondholders? There is the stealth like FF, who are so busy trying to reposition themselves they fall over things, until they finally have to stand up and support the government. Labour are not worth a mention—as they will probably disband after the next election. We have a few worthy socialists and leftists who will scream and shout but get nowhere. Of course there is SF—the great white hope.

The problem with SF and many of the genuine people who are supporting them—is not in economic thinking or the war in North of Ireland. No, SF are capitalists too. So their solution is to buy into a system that is proven not to work. A system that is ruthlessly anti citizen. Capitalism that rewards the few but fails the majority. I hear people say that SF are left wing and have a strong sense of socialism. But they are clearly not any of those. In the next government they may get to share power but with whom? Are FF their natural allies?




SF preach a softer brand of capitalism than the suits in FG and FF—but like the labour party how much of that can they bring with them into government? Remembering that part of buying into capitalism is the trading of sovereignty and the adoration of banks. People should realise that socialism is not anti business. In fact under an imaginative socialist system I contend this Island could support 20 million people. At present we can’t support 5 million. People will say get real—and in the real world. The real world as we have it, is imposing austerity on the weak and vulnerable. We have government representatives telling us that in the real world our future lies with banks—and 1 billion payments to unsecured bondholders? The real world indeed!

Why we wont face the truth?

It is a terrible thing. The consensus, the public consciousness, why is it so awful you might ask? Because it is usually wrong—and it is very damaging. We in Ireland are very good at half truths, misconceptions and in many cases downright lies.

We tell lies at all levels. It finally spills over when our political system overheats and burns us the citizen. The people scream why in anger—but it is the citizen who lives the lie and allows the pot to boil unattended.

It starts with simple misconceptions and spoofing. Like I am asked to believe that paedophile priests colluded as young men. They joined the priesthood with one intention and that was to gain access to children. This thesis completely ignores the fact that most child abusers are male, and most abuse takes place in the family home.

But to suit the national consciousness there is no real debate or radical examination to the actual causes of paedophilia we wait as a nation for the next outrage.

We can simplify it further. You go to the pharmacy to buy ‘Solpadeine’s.’ The assistant asks ‘have you taken them before?’ you say that ‘you have [but fail to add that you have been chewing them since 1984.] She whispers something to the pharmacist who gives you the once over before nodding. You pay the exorbitant price and you leave.

Like what area of the public consciousness are we pleasing here? I could have done the same thing in twenty pharmacies for all they know. If ‘Solpadeine,’ are so lethal why are they available without prescription? They are the saviour of the habitual drunk and are laced with Codeine—but the urban legend is that neurotic people were downing them in such doses that their livers failed. My argument is why not come out and say this? Why leave it to individual pharmacists to play God—if they are dangerous make them prescription only. They wont because they will lose money—in the final analysis it is us the citizen who is incidental to their sales figures.

People speak more nonsense re- the public consciousness and politics and as our neoliberal media hammer home, the economy. I often wonder if we had the same type of media when I was a child how they would have reported on the poverty. Of course I was lucky as it was so much worse in my parent’s time.

The national consensus is that the sooner we can get back to the markets the better. The markets will cure everything and sure all will be grand.

Economists are on television commenting on how the government could save money. Cut the public service wage bill, cut social welfare. Let us see if we can impose a property tax etc. The fiscal suited neoliberals are offering us solutions to the very problems that their ideology has caused. Now these people own the media so you get the same drivel repeated time and time again. So our slavish following of the markets and neoliberal economic doctrine got us into this mess. However if we keep the faith in time this brilliant economic religion will save us.

At no time is the citizen asked to ponder on such a preposterous proposition. Under this ideology all alternatives are banished. Any mention of social justice is compared with North Korea. The dictatorship there is used as a whip against any call for real citizenship—and real control of what is after all our nation. When we get past the North Korean spin—we face mind sets that believe that socialism cannot produce wealth. That an equitable society is unworkable and unrealistic. But the truth lies in the bare fact that our country is self sufficient. We have ample natural resources and with the development of indigenous industry we could become self sufficient in a relatively short time.

The real truth I believe is that we are making an ideological choice to live beyond our means. Our economic system has been infiltrated by outside interests that are creaming it off the back of our citizens. We are rewarded by the empire—they will protect us from unseen enemies. It is unlikely that we would ever be allowed to starve. This as long as we keep our levels of corporation tax ridiculously low, and our rates of income tax so low that it is impossible to fund vital services from the take.

The national consciousness, the truth is in the ideology—and the citizen survives on lies.

Where are Ireland's Radical Women

History tells us the women in Dail Eireann were anti-treaty and vehemently so! Many of these women TD’S took leftist republican stand points. This at a time when the new Irish state was fractured for once by ideology. I quote, from

Jason K. Knirck.Imagining Ireland's Independence: The Debates over the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921


Most of all, I am still not sure why women TDs all voted against the treaty without exception--and why the most republican organization was the all-female Cumann na mBan. It cannot just have been typecasting.

So we can clearly see a sense of radicalism associated with women going back to the formation of the state. However it is important to note that many Irish women were unable to vote in the 1922 general election. I quote,

Female TDs also raised the uncomfortable issue of the franchise, which left a large number of women without the vote in the 1922 general election.

Whilst the facts cannot be challenged—it is of interest to examine as to how this radical feminism has emerged in modern Ireland. It may be argued that woman have been emancipated—from the kitchen sink to the boardroom. That woman have equal opportunity in the work place—and within the education system.Yet it is not unusual to hear terms like gender balance—when referring to politics and even political debates.So how emancipated have Irish women really become?


Also back in the early twenties, was the watering down of feminism and female influence a deliberate policy by the male led political establishment?


Knirck argues that the government’s portrayal of republicanism as essentially feminine was part of a wider policy of eliminating both the ideology and women in general from public life, in an attempt to 'restore stability and order.'


One wonders who has inherited the radical mantle as presented by these early pioneering female representatives. Whilst we have had some well meaning and hard working—female TD’s and ministers—one struggles to equate them with any sense of radicalism. Is that because since 1922 –we have failed to elect any radical government? Another question that could be legitimately asked is to see examples of male radicalism? Yet at the foundation of the state the radical mantra was female—so I will concentrate on that.


Yes there have been radical women from time to time. Mostly these women were involved with the republican movement. Some were heavily embedded in the armed struggle. Many spent a long time rotting in Irish or English jails. Although many of these women were radical—they were mainly republican. Socialism or feminism was never outwardly part of their ideology.


In modern Ireland socialist TD’S like Clare Daly could well be labelled as radical and feminist. However one wonders how well she is received in the realms of middle Ireland?


So where did that initial radical republican feminism go? Did its dissipation have any co-relation to the boom and bust fiasco that has ruined this country? Where the new credit card—mortgage consumer—who bought into the ideology of private health insurance, two cars, paid childcare. Are these modern day women in anyway responsible for the current mess? One wonders at the effects of coffee morning conversations about house prices,VHI plans. The complete surrender to consumerism and the world as presented by neoliberalism.



Would the original black widows of Dail Eireann have opted for outlets and shopping centres over cradle to the grave healthcare—and educational access? I quote,


The women’s part was to raise the specter of the dead and to claim the right to speak for them. Even the women who were not widows wore black.

The End of Middle-class Bliss

For those of you who read my tweets and blogs regularly you are most likely sick to death of the word ideology. I have I admit flogged it to death. In case you think that I have lost it completely—let me explain.


In Ireland ideology is stealth like—political entities hate the word. In the gombeen system we use, to label politicians as anything other than party hacks, could be very a dangerous indeed.
So since the foundation of the state all our political parties favour the personality over the ideological.



Ideologies after all—are for communists and fascists –not our hard working constituency loving representatives. The media have bought into this also. Creating heroes and villains. Charles Haughey and Michael Lowery—the personalities who survived controversy or who didn’t. No analysis to my knowledge anyhow, from what kind of ideological position, did these individuals spawn.

We get bland comments like, ‘centre right—or Christian democrat,’ what in effect does this mean? The present government have sold our economic sovereignty to our financial masters in the ECB. This it seems to me is an ideological decision taken by a government who were never actually given a mandate to do so. Their respective manifestos both clearly stated that a renegotiation of Ireland’s debt was their brief. Yet once in Government both FG and Lab watered this down—to complete compliance with our financial governors.


Another reason that I go on incessantly about ideology, is that I don’t believe that it is a new disease—this blind adherence to neo-liberal dogma. In essence the Irish state was founded on these values. We have always been slaves to the multi-nationals particularly American companies. This is all well and good—but by proxy we have wilfully neglected the development of our indigenous industry. Also we have allowed the rape of our natural resources –by a small and select few.

I wonder what is the point of having a nation or citizenship at all. If we are to continue with the disempowerment of the same. Why have an Ireland why have citizens—if in effect we are entering an individual competition –us against our fellow citizens from the cradle to the grave. The strongest survive the weak will not—society will prosper?


It is very frustrating to be labelled as idealist—or leftist. There is an extraordinary blandness out there. My twitter timeline is full of angst. ‘How can the government do this?’ or ‘Wake up minister—we won’t take any more cuts!’ it is almost like the tweeters imagine the government to be a separate entity, existing remotely beyond us.

But governments are elected by us—to represent us. If they are not representing us then why? Do they not share our ideology? Is threatening cuts in services to the disabled on one hand—whilst paying 600million to unsecured bondholders with the other, is that not what we elected them to do?


We are in a right old mess. When I as a citizen advocated that we should have free healthcare and education from the cradle to the grave—I am branded an ideological lefty.

But I also advocate that we take control of our natural resources, oil, gas, fishing, food processing. We should as a citizenry be creating a huge amount of jobs through state initiatives in Industry, infrastructure, Forestry, and generic brands of medicines. We should continue with our high-tech innovative enterprises and service industries also. But hey I don’t need our ‘Brightest and Best,’ to do this, no my fellow citizens will do for me thanks.


My last thought this morning—is back to my timeline on twitter. I asked why my fellow tweeters were shocked at the policies as presented by this government. Stating that if one holds an ideological position—they would in all truth be rendered unshockable. Neoliberals do what we expect them to do—socialists do what we expect—is the reason for shock a naivety? Or some sort of discomfort, following years of middle-class bliss?