Last week, the An Garda Síochána raided an apartment in Parnell Street after they received a tip-off about the existence of a “pop-up brothel”. Today, we at Wexford Hub can reveal that we have received detailed information about several locations that have been used as brothels in the recent past.
Our source, who wished to remain anonymous, claims that he visited a number of escorts in Wexford Town between 2010 and 2011; and that as a result, he knew where all of the “main spots” were located.
“The women I visited advertised themselves as independent workers and I never got the impression that there were men behind the scenes. To me, it always felt as though the girls were working as some sort of group. In one particular apartment, there seemed to be a number of girls.”
After giving us a list of four locations throughout Wexford Town, our source went on to explain the process of visiting a makeshift brothel. “All of the details on what they offer are advertised online. As soon as you ring the number, you will be told to go to a general area in the town. Once you get there, you have to ring the number again. It is only then that they will tell you exactly where they are.”
Although apartment blocks seem to be the place of choice for pop-up brothels, we were also told that some escorts will rent a hotel room “for a couple of days”. “There are a lot of them in the town and they move around a lot. They are in New Ross as well. Sometimes, they will rent a hotel room in the area. In Wexford Town’s case, I know that there was an escort located in [name of hotel withheld].”
All of the locations that were listed are within walking distance of the town centre. For one of the locations, our source was able to tell us the exact apartment that he had visited. During his visit, he had to wait outside the apartment block until he was buzzed in. In his personal opinion, this particular apartment complex was home to one of the biggest brothels in the town.
According to the Wexford People paper, the An Garda Síochána are aware of the scale of the operation. During the week, the newspaper quoted “unnamed sources”, who stated that men from all walks of life had been visiting the brothel, with one particular source saying that “you would be very, very surprised at who had been going there.”
Due to the sensitive nature of the topic and the impact that such a story could have, we at Wexford Hub have decided against publishing the names of the locations that were given to us.
