No recession for oldest profession
BEFORE today is over at least 5,000 men across the country will have paid for sex.
How many will give a second’s thought as to whether the woman is there of her own free will, whether the distant look in her eyes is from world weariness or terrible fear as to what the trafficker has done and will do to her?
The recent Garda raids on 120 premises nationwide showed the extensive nature of the problem. Lucrative brothels were found, not just in the cities but also amid smaller populations, making it even easier for traffickers to hide their victims.
This country is developing a reputation internationally for its low conviction rate for human trafficking. There are 21m people trafficked for the sexual or labour purposes worldwide. A number of sex trafficking victims have been identified and rescued in the North.
Even while the recent Garda operation was taking place here, 20 simultaneous raids in the North led to the discovery of three suspected trafficking victims. The Irish sex industry is cross-border. Other victims have surely been brought into this jurisdiction.
In spite of the recession, the sex industry which supports the terrible crime of human trafficking has never been as buoyant.
Up to 1,000 women nationwide are providing sex on a daily basis. While Dublin remains the hub for the majority of prostitutes, other parts of the country are also proving extremely lucrative for pimps. Here we look at how the industry is thriving in the country’s second city.
Stand anywhere in the centre of Cork City and chances are you’ll be less than five minutes’ walk from someone selling sex.
Dozens of women are plying their trade within walking distance of the business district. Women — and to a much lesser extent men — in apartments, hotels, and numerous massage parlours are offering a range of sexual services at widely varying costs.
One might have thought that the market for high-priced sex would have faltered in line with the recession. After all, many of those who could spare up to €400 for an hour of sex at the height of the Celtic Tiger do not have the wherewithal today.
However, the sellers of sex have moved with the times, with many prostitutes halving their prices so they can still be attractive to punters’ thinner wallets.
As a result, it would now appear there are more women selling their bodies than ever before in Cork City.
The escort-ireland.com website, by far the biggest advertiser of prostitution services in this country, even charts the change that has been necessary in the sex supply and demand chain: “2008 did bring a global financial crisis and Ireland has not been untouched by this.
“However, the sex industry in Ireland is as recession-proof as it gets. A recession will always leave some clients thinking more carefully about how they spend their money and, in response, escorts may have to make sure their pricing is competitive, but the number of clients seeking escort services in Ireland and the number of escorts available in Ireland continues to grow.”
The majority have dropped their prices, meaning the old half-hour rate of €150-€200 has dropped in most cases to well below €100. The average being charged in Cork for half an hour of highly-varied sex was €80. In at least three cases, the women were offering those services — including a number without a condom — for just €50.
Some prostitutes arriving for a three-day “tour” can have their calendar almost full before they even get to Cork City.
“I need as much notice as possible. I am very, very busy during my time in Cork,” said Irish Saoirse when an appointment was sought.
At any one time on escort-ireland.com alone, there are 70 or more women of varying nationalities offering a range of hardcore sex in and around the city centre.
Mainly, they are either Eastern European or South American. However, there are at least eight Irish women regularly touring the city and British women appear to find a lucrative demand from Cork punters.
Escort-ireland.com allows men not only to find the women, but even to make recommendations and warnings to fellow punters.
For example, one punter who used the nickname “francisca”, posted: “Any Cork escorts that do a good domination session please pm. me. I know lots have it up on their page, but my experience has been that not many actually do it convincingly.”
Another punter, nicknamed FortyCoats, replied: “Not into it myself, but look who’s coming to Cork tomorrow.” He gave a link to a German woman “Mistress Denisse”.
The website even has the details of the women who are due to arrive into the city in the following days so that prospective punters can book their appointments early.
It’s a hi-tec service — for which the website earns a princely sum: Up to €250 per woman.
The women all list themselves as “independent” on the websites, rather than part of an agency, though anti-prostitution campaigners would insist that most are under the control of a pimp.
In 2006, there were at least 10 full-scale “escort agencies” advertising in Cork City. These days there appears to be only one. Escort-ireland.com, which previously advertised the agencies, has none listed for Cork.
There are a number of reasons for that. Firstly, there is now a greater realisation that advertising the brothel as an escort agency was like a bright flashing light for gardaí. After all, it is not illegal to be a prostitute or have sex for money, but it is illegal to organise prostitution and keep a brothel.
But what has reduced agency numbers even further was a Garda crackdown on one of Munster’s most successful pimps.
For more than a decade Tony Linnane, dubbed “Mr Big”, had built up a multimillion-euro empire of brothels and sex shops around the province. Throughout that time, his name never appeared in the headlines or in the courts. But that was not to say he was sailing under the radar of gardaí.
There were a number of raids on his premises during significant sums of cash were seized as well as the obligatory collection of mobile phones. The raids allowed the Criminal Assets Bureau to put together a tax bill understood to be in the region of €1m.
They also gave gardaí an insight into Linnane’s paranoia. They discovered hidden cameras which allowed the pimp to relay real-time footage to his sprawling home on six acres in Watergrasshill in north Cork. He was able to ensure all money handed over was accounted for and that the women were not skimming from the profits.
He would even impose a €50 fine on the women if they took more than one or two baby wipes into the room, turned their back on camera when selecting the number of condoms, did not count the money in view of the camera, or did not speak clearly.
Finally in Dec 2009, gardaí lifted Linnane and his partner, Caroline O’Leary, and brought them straight to Cork District Court to face 42 counts, 21 for organising prostitution, and a further 21 for keeping brothels at 26 John St and 18 Grafton St, Cork.
Six months later, he was given a two-year jail sentence with the last nine months suspended.
As he handed down the sentence, the judge in the case said: “I am delighted CAB have extracted more than €1m from him and will sell the two brothels. I am heartened to think he has lost the profit of his involvement.
“He is the main man. He was fully involved at the highest level. He did it entirely for profit. He exploited women working there and the men going there to the maximum in the most miserable physical conditions so that he could make profit.”
Perhaps surprisingly given the recessionary times, unlike Dublin, the outdoor prostitution scene, which dissipated almost overnight with the boom of the Celtic Tiger, has not reformed in Cork. Only a handful of women operate in the traditional red light district of the city. The women charge as little as €30 in some cases for sexual services, a fraction of the price that is demanded behind the doors of the brothels.
The outdoor sex industry is fraught with danger. Women are regularly abused by the punters but, often due to a external forces such as addiction or abuse, they are forced to continue selling themselves in spite of the regular threat of rape or assault.
Read more here about Ireland's growing sex industry.
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