‘Winning the lottery is the only way I am going to get out of this game’

“I HAVE been split open, raped, beaten up. But I have been out here for 10 years because I am on gear.”

That is the stark admission of Clare*, who at 2.30am on a cold January morning had just come on to the streets around the red light district in the Fitzwilliam area of Dublin to sell her body.

She expected to stay out until 6.30am to try to get men coming out of clubs who were willing to pay €50 for hand relief, €80 for oral sex and €100 for full sex.