Prostitution is rampant in rural Ireland and it's getting worse. That's the stark message from observers of the sex industry who contend that pimps and criminals behind the sordid business are getting harder to track down due to their use of technology.

Trafficking of foreign women for the sex industry is now endemic throughout the country, they claim, while shockingly, Irish women are being forced back on 'the game' due to the recession.

Prostitution has hit virtually every town in the country. But it is often invisible because it is promoted through the internet and gardai will only intervene if they get a formal complaint.

"People would be shocked if they really knew what is happening on their own doorstep. This is not just in the cities but in towns across the country like Monaghan, Drogheda, Sligo, Athlone, Portlaoise, Carlow, Mullingar, Kilkenny and even smaller towns. You have to remember that criminals drive the sex trade and it has now spread throughout the country -- just as drugs have," asserts Ruhama spokesperson Gerardine Rowley.

The Sunday Independent can reveal that a forthcoming trial will expose the seedy underworld of prostitution in the provinces. A suspected Irish vice boss and his associates will come before the courts on a variety of charges relating to prostitution.

"Evidence from witnesses in this trial will explode the myth that any of this is harmless and will put the spotlight on the more sordid and sinister side of the sex trade here, human trafficking and the ruthlessness used to strongarm girls in Irish towns where most people are going around oblivious of what's going on.

"Make no mistake about it, it's a dangerous business and this outfit is up to their neck in running prostitution right across the midlands and elsewhere," according to one well-placed source.

Gerardine Rowley agrees that while prostitution has spread at an unprecedented scale over the past decade, it is much more difficult to capture and convict the crime bosses behind it. The street corner and kerb crawling through well known red-light districts is mostly a thing of the past. It has been replaced by the internet and the flexibility of the mobile phone.

"It is very complex and under the radar. The heavy hand of the pimp no longer has to be physically present, but they are running the show from a distance.

"We need a wake-up call. Men willing to pay for sex are fuelling it in small towns and the images on the glamorous posters with the fishnet tights hide the real trauma and horrendous situations we encounter.

"Many of the women we help have been deceived and forced into prostitution. Even though it might not appear that way, they are held captive and in fear, held indoors, the only people they meet are their pimps and their punters. A lot of men seem to hold the view: 'Sure what harm, it's a bit of innocent fun, aren't they making a lot money?' But that's ignorance and naivety and that's why we need a national vice squad which we've been seeking for years, with well trained officers, who know what they're looking for in a focused and effective fashion. At present there are only two officers based in Dublin and that's totally inadequate," insists the Ruhama spokeswoman.

"You would wonder at times if people want to look for this crime. You don't have to be a detective to realise what is being advertised on the escort websites and even the adverts for many of the Chinese massage parlours offering 'full body massage' are fronts for selling sexual services.

"Very often the women we deal with are in debt bondage, fear for their families back home and are even under the influence of ritual voodoo oaths. But we turn a blind eye as the women being exploited are not white, not middle class, not me, not my daughter, they're nobodies."

Gerardine Rowley is furious when she hears the term 'happy hooker' and how much money they are making.

"This upsets me and is a totally wrong characterisation of what is usually organised crime. Can someone explain to me how a woman can arrive here, barely able to speak English and within 24 hours be set up in an expensive apartment in Dublin 4 with a new mobile phone; that's not a happy coincidence, these women are being trafficked and we're turning a blind eye to it.

"We have to get rid of the idea of the 'happy hooker' myth. These are real people who are being abused and men who pay for sex should really hear what these women have to say about them and really think about them,. There is nothing harmless about it. Lives are being ruined and these women may be compliant out of coercion, but they are not consenting and we have to stop kidding ourselves," insists Gerardine.

Fine Gael spokesman, Denis Naughton is in agreement. "It's well over a year since the introduction of human-trafficking legislation, yet the Government has failed to establish adequate protections and secure accommodation for these victims and to ensure prosecutions against traffickers occur. Some 151 investigations have been undertaken by the gardai in the last 18 months into alleged trafficking but there have been no prosecutions to date.

"It's time that Ireland hit the demand end of this multi-million euro illegal industry. Our law currently provides for a defence in court to prove that they did not know that the person was trafficked.

"The new law for the UK will bring a provision of direct liability into force -- ignorance to the fact an individual was sex trafficked will not be defensible in court. Men who know they are paying for sex with a trafficked woman may face a rape charge."

In the latest worrying development, Ruhama has detected a pronounced increase in street-based prostitution in the bigger cities.

According to Gerardine: "We have noticed a big increase in street-based prostitution in recent months as people struggle with bills and are forced back onto the street. They tell us, 'it's not easy money, but it's quick money'.

"We try to support them and direct them away from this high risk and violent life to Mabs and St Vincent de Paul. These are ordinary women who can't pay their household bills and we are aware that there are those who turn to prostitution coming up to Christmas, First Communions and back-to-school, all these times."

Sunday Independent