TWO women from Donegal were referred to the charity Ruhama, a national organisation that offers support to women affected by prostitution and trafficking last year.
The charity released their annual report this week which revealed the two women referred to them from Donegal were originally from Romania.
However, Ruhama spokesperson Ruth Breslin said the number could be much higher because those trafficked in the sex trade are moved around constantly from county to county.
“The sex trade is very mobile, they girls are either moving themselves or they are being moved,” said Ms Breslin.
“A lot of the sex buyers like new girls available in their locality so they are moved around to keep it fresh.”
Ms Breslin said the bulk of prostitutes advertise on a site called Escort Ireland which gives a rough estimation of the amount of prositutes working in each county.
“It’s not an exact science,” said Ms Breslin.
“There are 12 advertised in Donegal at the moment.
“This is not just a big city thing. Women are spread right across the country.”
Ms Breslin said while not all women on this site are being involuntarily trafficked as prostitutes she said the majority do end up here.
“The trade is very explotative, an awful lot of them are migrant,” she said.
“We help anyone who has been affected by prostitution whether they are in prostitution now or whether they have got out and find now they need additional support.
“The demand for our services is definetly increasing.”
Ms Breslin said because the majority of women are migrants they do not have family support in this country and so are very vulnerable.
On a national level Ruhama provided support to 304 women of 37 different nationalities from across the globe during 2016, including 92 victims of sex trafficking from four continents.
The charity is now calling on the Government to introduce new laws to clamp down on sex buyers and the criminals who run prostitution.
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