A Kildare woman who managed a Dublin city centre brothel that had an estimated annual turnover of €4 million has been jailed for one year by Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
Deena Edridge (28), Wentworth Place, Naas, pleaded guilty to allowing an apartment she had rented on Bachelors Walk, Dublin, to be used as a brothel on dates between August 22nd, 2005, and October 10th, 2005.
She also pleaded guilty to organising prostitution and controlling the activities of more than one prostitute for that purpose between the same dates.
Edridge was paid a salary of €50,000 to act as a "manager", greeting customers, lining up the girls to allow customers to choose one, handling finances and managing an off-site "call centre".
Judge Katherine Delahunt told Edridge: "You are in many ways a victim and fell into an illegal trade because of abandonment by your father." She noted, however, that Edridge was a "major player who had a significant and trusted role in running the business" and imposed two 12-month sentences, to run concurrently.
Det Sgt Seamus Holohan told Fergal Foley, prosecuting, he had been part of "Operation Quest" into prostitution and brothel-keeping in Dublin.
He said they mounted a surveillance operation on the premises at Bachelors Walk for a number of months and established that it was being run as a brothel.