Women ‘driven in vans’ to events to meet demand for sex workers, Cork activist claims

Women who have been trafficked into Ireland are being “driven around in vans” during sporting events to meet demand for sex workers, a Cork activist has claimed.

The co-founder and CEO of the Sexual Violence Centre Cork, Mary Crilly, told The Echo that some “Cork men are creating the demand” for online advertising of women to have sex with, as she appealed to men to get more involved in tackling the issue.

It comes as a new briefing document published by the Sexual Exploitation Research and Policy Institute (Serp) highlighted how the profiles of women in Cork, who have potentially been sex trafficked into Ireland, are being advertised online.

As part of the research, Serp monitored a website over the course of a four-week period in August-September 2024, gathering data once per week to assess whether indicators of sexual exploitation were present.

It identified 19 out of a possible 28 indicators of potential trafficking and sexual exploitation present on the site in question.

On average, across each of the four monitoring dates, the ages of the 878 total individual profiles advertised ranged from 18 to 67 — with more than one-fifth advertised as between the ages of 18 and 25.

There were 76 profiles with Cork locations.

Overall, the most common nationalities of women advertised were Brazilian, Spanish, Colombian, Czech, Chinese, and many profiles suggested being new to Ireland, saying: “This is my first time come to Ireland for holiday [sic]”.

Several profiles shared many similarities, which researchers said “point to the presence of a group of women being controlled in prostitution, often by an organised crime gang”.

A number used different pictures and names but were all advertised in similar locations, and with almost identical profile text.

“The majority of profiles analysed during the monitoring period contained multiple indicators of exploitation,” the report said, adding that women who are being advertised as being available 24/7 or “available any time” and women whose faces are hidden, covered, or blurred out in their profile pictures are among causes for concern that exploitation is occurring.

Additionally it noted “one woman whose body featured visible bruising in several places” and “one woman who was advertised as being visibly pregnant, and her pregnancy was being used as a feature to attract sex buyers”.

Ms Crilly said she had met many women who have been raped “by punters and pimps”, as well as women “who have been trafficked and who thought they were going to work in bars or restaurants”.

“It’s modern-day slavery,” she added.

Ms Crilly said that research shows that the main users are men in their 30s or 40s, married, and that lunch time is the busiest time.

“They chose online what they want, and they are responsible for what’s going on.”

On what can be done about the issue, Ms Crilly said: “I think men need to be more involved in not supporting this trade.”

“At sporting and cultural events, women are driven around in vans to meet the demand.

“Society as a whole needs to see the reality of young girls being abused in this way,” Ms Crilly added.