Limerick-based human rights group Doras Luimní has described as “highly disappointing” the suspended sentence handed down to a Dublin man who profited from prostitution in the south-western city.

Thomas Lyons admitted to running and profiting from brothels in Limerick city between 2010 and 2011 where women from Romania, Spain, Portugal, Brazil, Niger and Hungary worked in various locations around the city.

He was the subject of a two-year investigation involving many resources, surveillance and Garda hours.

In handing down the sentence, Judge Tom O’Donnell commended the Garda for their two-year investigation but gave Lyons a four-year suspended sentence, with six years on probation.

In a statement, Doras Luimní said “prostitution in Limerick is highly organised. It is extremely lucrative. We also think it important to highlight that prostitution in Limerick, as elsewhere, is highly racialised and gendered – migrant women mainly from Eastern Europe make up 90 per cent of those available for commercial sexual services in the city, as is particularly evident in this investigation.

“Therefore it is disappointing that Mr Lyons gets to walk free from the court with a suspended sentence.”

The organisation said it fundamentally believes “those who organise and profit from prostitution, the pimps and traffickers, should be the target of Garda investigations. We also believe that those same individuals should bear the full brunt of the law.

“Considering the amount of time and resources which were required to prosecute Mr Lyons, and considering the gravity of the offences, it is disappointing that he did not receive a custodial sentence. It sends a message that those who organise and profit from prostitution will be treated leniently by the criminal justice system.”