The Government has been urged to use a review of prostitution laws to make it illegal to pay for sex.

The call was made this afternoon at a conference on sex-trafficking in Dublin.

Speaking at the conference, Chief Executive of the Immigrant Council of Ireland Denise Charlton said 97% of women in prostitution here are migrants.

She said the women are often tricked into travelling to Ireland under the false promise of a better life.

She said that the announcement that the Government is examining the law in this area is welcome and that it gave them an opportunity to send a strong message to pimps, brothel owners and human traffickers that their activities are not welcome in Ireland.

She urged the Government not to use technical, administrative or legal reasons to shy away from this issue and to act swiftly and end such abuse.