Gardaí have been presented with claims that predatory men are posing as members of the force in order to attack and trick sex workers.
Ugly Mugs Ireland is an organisation that aims to promote safety within the sex worker community and recently handed over a dossier to An Garda Síochána containing hundreds of allegations dating as far back as 2016.
“There is a man in the Midlands who claims to be a Guard and he befriends sex workers - some of them believe that they’re his girlfriend for a while,” journalist Aoife Moore explained to Moncrieff.
“And then [he] uses their particular vulnerability - especially sex workers who are not from Ireland; they might be having immigration issues and then uses that vulnerability to demand free sex or whatever else from the workers.”
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She continued:
“A lot of the reports are that women have been robbed or that men don’t want to pay and when they don’t want to pay they say, ‘Well, I’m a Garda’ or ‘I’m going to report you to the Garda’ or ‘My friends are Gardaí.’
“And the sale of sex in Ireland is not illegal but the purchase of sex is but a lot of the sex workers working in Ireland would not have English as a first language.
“They might not be from Ireland so they’re probably not aware of the law and obviously really frightening and obviously a lot of them would have ongoing issues with Gardaí anyway.
“So for the men it is obviously an easy way to scare a sex worker then by claiming you are Gardaí or know Gardaí.”
Other incidences included in the dossier include allegations of sexual assault, rape and the removal of condoms without permission.
'Still challenges'
It is an offence under Irish law to buy sexual services but since 2017 it has been legal to sell sexual services and the Government said they hoped the change would make it easier for victims of violent crimes to come forward.
However, sex workers still view members of law enforcement with suspicion and this means many are reluctant to come forward if they become victims of crime.
“There’s definitely still challenges for women wanting to report to the Guards,” Barbara Condon, CEO of the women's charity Ruhama, told Newstalk.
“Because if a woman has been raped or sexually assaulted - or indeed encountered any type of sexual violence - there’s two big challenges.
“One is the trauma of what’s happened in terms of the sexual violence.
“And the second is reporting the crime.”
For Mia de Faoite of the National Women's Council, the industry is inherently violent and the state should do all it can to reduce demand for sex work.
“Pimps and traffickers know where to go,” she said.
“They know where the vulnerable are. They know where to take advantage.
“But the only reason they traffic and trick and coerce and kidnap women is because there is a demand.
“Ending demand is the strongest proven piece of legislation that any nation can do.”
Main image: Pictured is a Garda. Picture by: RollingNews.ie
