Prostitutes flock to streets of gold

Ber highlighted this opinion piece in the independent today. I asked him to post, but he said he doesn't post anymore, so here goes. A little different than the latest pieces posted:

Prostitutes flock to streets of gold - Analysis, Opinion - Independent.ie

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Prostitutes flock to streets of gold
The majority of foreign sex workers are here because Irish clients will pay more for their services than in almost any other country, writes Jim Cusack

Sunday September 05 2010

MOST of the young foreign women working in the sex trade in Ireland are here because Irish men are prepared to pay more for their services than clients almost anywhere else. Gardai involved in vice investigations say that despite widely publicised reports of human trafficking, the vast majority of foreign sex workers are drawn here by the money Irish men are prepared to pay for sex.

As well as women working in the trade, the number of young male homosexual prostitutes coming here is also increasing. There were 75 men offering 'man on man' massages on two websites used mainly by female Chinese 'massage' women in Dublin last week. There were also a few 'female to female' massages on offer.

Gardai say they do not know the number or percentage of girls and women who

have been trafficked here because there have been very few investigations in the area, particularly in Dublin. However, circumstantial evidence from raids in rural divisions suggests that the majority of prostitutes are here voluntarily -- because they can charge more than in almost any other European country.

The charges quoted on a prostitution website of €100 to €150 for a half-hour session is a multiple of anything that prostitutes might make in eastern Europe and far more than they might make in Britain, which has also been swamped with foreign prostitutes since the accession of the eastern European states into the EU.

Ireland's prostitution rates were set -- and accepted -- at the height of the economic bubble and seem far higher than in other EU countries. Last month there was a political row in Germany over 'flat rate' brothels where customers were entitled to any services between 10am and 4am for a flat rate of €70 with an evening, again unlimited services rate, of €100. The prostitutes, mostly eastern European, were paid a flat rate of €70 a shift and whatever they can make on tips.

Blogsites used by men who engage in sex tourism in Europe show that rates charged by prostitutes in Holland and France are between €40 and €60, and even cheaper in Spain and Italy. This, gardai say, is why so many prostitutes are travelling here as they are simply making far more money than they would elsewhere. Word spread in Brazil after associates of the former madam and model Samantha Blandford Hutton brought the first women from that country in the late Nineties. A considerable number of prostitutes discovered by gardai working in rural towns are from Brazil.

An Italian student working here as a prostitute to pay for tuition fees recently told a reporter posing as a client that she was delighted with the amount of money she was earning in Ireland and that she intended to stay until she had made enough for her studies and keep at college back in Italy.

Gardai said that among the women found working in Dublin during the early days of Operation Quest -- a dedicated vice unit set up in 2001 -- were students from a Scottish university. The word had spread about the amount of money that could be earned in one weekend in Dublin working from a rented apartment. Cheap Ryanair flights added to the attraction, gardai said.

Gardai say that though sex trafficking does exist, the "vast majority" of young women working here were doing so voluntarily and most showed little interest in returning to their home countries in the short term because of the money they were earning. Even after paying pimps like TJ Carroll and father and son team Peter and Mark McCormack and other expenses, they were earning far more than they could elsewhere.

Some of the most attractive young women were making remarkable amounts of money. According to gardai, the women were being paid thousands of euros for a full night.

A group of young Brazilian women who exclusively worked city-centre hotels in Dublin and who claimed their passports had been stolen by their pimp were later discovered to have made enough money in six months to have bought businesses back home. Their complaint that their passports had been stolen was actually a ruse to break their contract and return with their money.

The remarkable amounts of money being made at some of the Chinese massage parlours that have proliferated around the country was illustrated by the case of the hard-working Junxiu Hua, the 35-year-old prostitute who sent more than €1m back to a bank account in China after spending three years in Dublin.

She only came to the attention of gardai after banks reported accounts she had

here in which €243,000 had been deposited (and which was later awarded to the CAB by the High Court). She had begun working on her own and as her business expanded, she had hired other young women to work in three apartments with her. There was no evidence of any violence or pressure being used to force the women into sex work.

A survey of websites used by Chinese prostitutes indicated that there are now about 160 'massage' parlours operating in Dublin, a significant increase since they began appearing about four years ago. As with the other European prostitution rackets, the Chinese massage parlours are run by crime gangs with centrally controlled mobile phone contact numbers.

There is clear evidence, however, that some women have been trafficked into Ireland and forced against their will to work as prostitutes but the extent of the trafficking and enslavement is unknown.

Only two gardai, a detective and a young garda seconded from uniformed duties, are involved in detecting sex trafficking in Ireland. They are all that remains of what was once a 16-strong squad under an experienced detective superintendent set up in 2005 when the issue of sex trafficking first arose here.

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A very long article, which you could really replace with two words: Capitalism works. Yes, escorts will go where they expect to be better paid, as indeed they should. Still, this is better than most such articles, because it acknowledges that most escorts are doing this voluntarily.

Well it's always nice to see some view other than the Ruhama PR view, which seems to dominate the Irish Times. At least the independent publish some alternative opinions to Ruhama's at times, I have to give them credit for that.

The streets are not paved with gold .................................
Maybe it was ... a couple of years back when the basic charge was 150 E for 30 min with extras on top !!!

At the moment, even the best escorts might find themselves being a little under pressure.

Let's not forget Ireland is also an expensive country, rent here is at least double then in many other places.
Flights are not as cheap as the paper is saying, especially from Eastern Europe, Brazil etc ...

Also, I don't think they compare like to like.
I think they compare street prices and brothel prices with escorting prices here, WHICH IS HARDLY THE SAME.
It's like comparing Penneys with Mark & Spencer. Of course Mark & Spencer are more expensive, they do provide better quality and wear :p

Anytime I had a look at escort prices in Europe, I found them to be not very far to the ones in Ireland:

Polish-elite-escort

Prices for escort services by independent Prague escort girl Diana

S y l v i e P r a g u e E s c o r t

My rates VIP Prague Escort

Rates

International travel Bucharest escort girl

I apologise to provide links, I hope mods would allow them as they prove a point.

Countries much cheaper then Ireland have similar escorting fees.
I just pulled those put quickly, without any preselection from the Open Adult directory in Czech Republic, Poland and Romania. You will get sometimes cheaper then this but also sometimes more expensive.

The only thing that is really really cheap in those countries, are holidays with the client. Those type of appointments are not done in Ireland too much, but they are popular on the continent. The only guy I am aware he has done something like that is our own Carlos Marvado.

Thanks Sensual Delights. (If any mod sees this, I personally would allow links in this case, they have been provided here to demonstate a valid point). I see your points and I just want to clarify I didn't mean to say I agree with this article fully, just that it is nice to see a different point of view to the usual everyone is trafficked rubbish.

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Originally Posted by Patricia

Thanks Sensual Delights. (If any mod sees this, I personally would allow links in this case, they have been provided here to demonstate a valid point). I see your points and I just want to clarify I didn't mean to say I agree with this article fully, just that it is nice to see a different point of view to the usual everyone is trafficked rubbish.

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That's true as well Patricia, I didn't comment on that because I thought it was already pointed out.
It's nice to see for a change a different point of the traffic rubbish we usually get. Much closer to the truth.
Mostly, we are no victims here, we work voluntary for a chance of a better life in the future.

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Originally Posted by Sensual Delights

The streets are not paved with gold.

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Agreed. That's really a continuation of my point that capitalism works. Escorts don't charge that much more in Ireland than elsewhere. To the extent that they do, it's because expenses are higher and working conditions are worse. There are plenty of escorts who tour Ireland and elsewhere. If this really were escort paradise then they would be here all the time.

"The remarkable amounts of money being made at some of the Chinese massage parlours that have proliferated around the country was illustrated by the case of the hard-working Junxiu Hua, the 35-year-old prostitute who sent more than €1m back to a bank account in China after spending three years in Dublin.

She only came to the attention of gardai after banks reported accounts she had

here in which €243,000 had been deposited (and which was later awarded to the CAB by the High Court). She had begun working on her own and as her business expanded, she had hired other young women to work in three apartments with her. There was no evidence of any violence or pressure being used to force the women into sex work. "

Why was the money awarded to cab, she should sue to get it back, she earned it.

ESP

Exactly --- but she broke the law and was a criminal, -- organised brothels, failed to submit income tax for a start.