The ad, for “adult entertainment and contact info”, has appeared for the past three weeks in the Free Ad Trader supplement distributed weekly in three of the group’s titles: the Irish Independent, the Evening Herald and the Sunday World. A number of smaller ads are also being investigated.
A spokesman for the Independent group said: “The ad was checked before it was run. The number was rung and we determined that the services which were supposedly on offer were adult videos. On that evidence we determined that the ad was legitimate.
“We also submitted it to the Advertising Standards Authority and the wording of the ad is not in breach. However, now that a complaint has indicated that they are operating illegal services, the ad has been pulled and contact will be made with the advertiser.”
Calls to the mobile number at the bottom of the adult entertainment advertisement are answered by a young woman who offers to meet the caller in the St Stephen’s Green area of Dublin and bring them to a “nearby apartment”.
When called by The Sunday Times on Friday, the woman said: “Come down now, there is a 19-year-old Italian. Tracey’s 20, she is 5ft 9in, she’s Brazilian. There’s Tanya who is 5ft 10in and Spanish; there’s Divine, a busty redhead and she’s gorgeous. It’s €130 for a half-hour and €200 for an hour, for a great time.”
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Asked what the services consisted of, she replied: “Well I don’t have a menu in front of me but use your imagination. We can assure you, you’ll have a great time.” She added that services were “fully inclusive”.
In an earlier call, another young woman described the business as an “escort agency” based in the centre of Dublin. The ads cost €55 for a three-week run. When placing ads with the Free Ad Trader, clients are not required to specify the services offered or whether they fall within advertising guidelines.
If a complaint is made to gardai, the newspaper should be able to indicate it implemented proper guidelines to ensure adherence to laws governing advertisements.
The magazine In Dublin was banned from publication for six months in August 1999 after the Censorship of Publications Board deemed that advertisements carried in the magazine were for prostitution. Mike Hogan, the magazine’s publisher, was fined €63,000.
Four years ago copies of Loaded were withdrawn after it was discovered the “lads’ mag” was carrying ads for escort agencies operating in Ireland.
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Joanne McMinn, a director of the National Women’s Council of Ireland, said: “These ads are evidence of the problem of prostitution being seen as somewhat more acceptable in a society which has long approached the issue in a very moralistic manner. What you don’t see from these ads, which are illegal, is the growing problem of the exploitation of the most vulnerable in society. Evidence would point to foreign women being trafficked into the country and forced into the sex industry.”
Any person or company who publishes or distributes an advertisement for prostitution services, in terms or circumstances in which it could be reasonably inferred that the services offered were prostitution or the premises was a brothel, can face fines of up to €15,000 per offence.
Orla Twomey, the spokeswoman for the Advertising Standards Authority, said: “Prostitution is illegal so advertising for prostitution is illegal. Publishers do have a responsibility and if they believe that an ad may not be for legal services it is up to them to take it further.”
Publishers and distributors can defend themselves by showing an advertisement was received in the ordinary course of their business and they did not know it was related to prostitution.