The websites of escort agencies which advertise prostitutes should be illegal, and treated in the same way as child pornography, a Senator has said.

Fine Gael's Martin Conway was speaking following the launch of a new report by Ruhama, the support agency for women in prostitution.

Ruhama's 2013 annual report revealed an 18pc increase in the number of women accessing the agency's support services, while 83 women in prostitution who the agency worked with were trafficked into Ireland for the sex trade.

Mr Conway said targeting escort websites was one of the Oireachtas Justice Committee's recommendations to the Minister for Justice for the new sexual offences bill. "One of the interesting recommendations that we did make was that these websites would actually become illegal - and would be treated in the same vein as child pornography," he said.

The Fine Gael senator said there was "significant political support" for legislation in line with the Swedish model, which criminalises the purchasers of sex.

Labour Senator Ivana Bacik, who formally launched Ruhama's report, described Irish legislation on prostitution as "a deeply flawed model".

She said the Oireachtas Justice Committee had studied the issue extensively and found that liberalising prostitution "had not been effective in reducing exploitation, reducing harm or tackling supply and demand".

She said the Swedish model - which decriminalises those who sell sex and criminalises the purchasers of sex - had led to a reduction in prostitution and a reduction in the level of trafficking into Sweden.

This year, Ruhama is marking 25 years since it was founded in 1989. It started as a van service offering a hot drink and a safe space to on-street prostitutes in Dublin. In the intervening years, more than 2,500 women have been helped by the agency. Ruhama CEO Sarah Benson said the Irish sex trade was now "increasingly organised by criminal gangs" and uses the internet.

Prostitution is now mostly off-street and there has been a marked increase in the number of women from outside Ireland working in brothels. However, she said the one constant was exploitation.

Irish Independent