Republic of Ireland overwhelmingly in favour of extending marriage rights to same-sex couples. On 23 May 2015, Ireland became the first country to legalise same-sex marriage by popular vote. Ireland became the first country in the world to introduce an environmental levy for plastic shopping bags in 2002 and a public smoking ban in 2004. Recycling in Ireland is carried out extensively, and Ireland has the second highest rate of packaging recycling in the European Union. It was the first country in Europe to ban incandescent lightbulbs in 2008 and the first EU country to ban in-store tobacco advertising and product display in
Prostitution in the Republic of Ireland workers and supporters in favour of decriminalisation to rebut what they see as misleading information and to present a positive image of sex workers in Ireland. A chief complaint it has of the "Turn Off The Red Light" campaign is that it conflates legal and consensual sex work with illegal human trafficking. Prostitution in the Republic of Ireland Prostitution in Ireland is legal. However, since March 2017, it has been an offence to buy sex. Third party involvement (such as operating brothels, and other forms of pimping) is also illegal. Although the 2017 law criminalising clients was designed to reduce