Prostitutes are caught in a vice of violence

SIOBHAN'S eye is various shades of purple. Lipstick does not hide the cut on her bruised lip. Last week, a client tried to choke her. This week, she was attacked and the £240 she had earned on the streets stolen.

Next week, her young son is making his Holy Communion. She needs money for that but she's now afraid to go out at night. Instead, she walks Benburb Street on a wet afternoon hoping to do some business.

Violence against prostitutes is increasing, according to the women on the streets and those who work with them. Last month, in just one week, four women were attacked.

Rapes have also increased. However few, if any, of the women report the assaults to gardai, believing, at best, they would not get a sympathetic hearing.

The presence of gardai on the streets is much increased. Since new legislation was introduced three years ago, arrests for prostitution have soared.

In 1993, there were no prosecutions for prostitution, although one man was charged for living on the earnings of prostitution. A year later, 13 women and two pimps were prosecuted. There are no figures for this year but it is believed that the number has increased substantially. No men have been prosecuted for having sex with prostitutes.

The threat of arrest and court fines forces the women to take unnecessary risks, according to Outreach worker Ms Mary O'Neill. "Prostitution is being driven underground. The women are always looking over their shoulder, avoiding the police. They do not have time to negotiate with their clients, they tend to go with them without discussion. As a result they are taking risks with their health and safety."

Siobhan, a mother of five, didn't get much of a chance to check out the young man in the Honda Civic who pulled up for sex a week ago.

"At first he was all nice. He said he wanted someone to talk to. He felt guilty about using prostitutes. But when we got to his house in Clondalkin, he was like a schizophrenic. He grabbed me by the throat and tried to choke me. He nearly killed me. It was frightening. He held me for three hours. I couldn't get away from him. Imagine my bleedin nerves.

"He was a f... ing yuppie, living in the posh end of Clondalkin. I heard later that the same fella did it to another girl. If I had had a knife, I would have stabbed him. But what's the point of reporting it. They only treat you like dirt. You're scum to them.

Siobhan works the lower end of the market around Benburb Street, in the shadow of Collins Barracks. Business has not been good lately. On Thursday, she had already spent two hours on the street but had yet to score.

"The young drug addicts are screwing everything up," she said, pointing to a blond teenager hanging around at the end of the street. "They're all strung out to bits. They're probably full of Aids and they'll have sex for a tenner."

The 30 year old charges double. "I have to get two cars before I go home. I need £15 for the hostel tonight."

Siobhan is new to the game. She has only been on the streets for three months. "It's bleedin' sickening but I need the money." She has been homeless for some years. Her children, aged between three and 14, are living with her mother.

Trisha advises her to move upmarket. The 42 year old is a veteran of the streets. "Borrow a mini and blouse", she advises, "and move up to Wilton Place. It's safer up there and the work is flying."

On Wednesday night, business was brisk up at the classier end of town. At Wilt on Place, the "walkers" were out in strength. A middle aged man took a young woman into the shadows of an office block. Ten minutes later, the same prostitute went the same way with a man on a bicycle.

ON the canal, clients in expensive cars pull up continuously. It might not be as sleazy as Benburb Street but prostitutes were also at risk of attack there, explained Yvonne, from Liverpool. Striking looking, with long, blond hair, she has been working in Ireland as a prostitute for the last six years. "I got a messer recently. They just throw you around. They expect it for nothing, so when you ask for money they get annoyed."

Yvonne carries a can of mace. She would never go to the police. "It would be pointless. They'd shame you more than they would him."

Trisha still recalls her first night on the streets. "I was four months pregnant and the fella had left me. My stomach was queasy. But I needed the money." She was 16 years old then. At 32, she became a grandmother. Some of her earnings now go to help her three grandchildren.

"The business has changed. There seems to be more and more men out there who turn to violence. The women cannot pick their punters like they used to you don't have time any more. The young ones on heroin don't know who they are picking anyway, they are so out of it. And the number of young girls who go out now to feed their habit is huge.

"Some men are using fake Garda ID cards to get women into their cars and then they give them a hiding. Some of the younger ones cannot afford sex but feel they should be getting it anyway. There's a row and she gets beaten. You cannot go to the police because they don't bother listening."

Some of the women carry cans of mace or knives. The young drug addicts carry syringes. "They are worrying. What happens if some young girl has a row with a client some night and pulls a syringe on him? If he thinks he's going to die of AIDS in a few years time, how many prostitutes will he want to bring with him?"

Between 300 and 500 women are working as prostitutes in Dublin. Trisha estimates at least 70 are addicts. "I believe there will be murders on the streets if they don't change the law to allow women check out the clients and if they don't clean up the heroin problem.