Refugees corner call girl market

Refugee girls are taking over Ireland's booming prostitution business - by undercutting prices.

They are offering sex services at pounds 20 a time compared to a minimum pounds 50 charged by local girls.

Romanian women are flooding into Ireland at 150 a week, seeking refugee status and political asylum.

But police sources said many have criminal records at home and have fled to escape jail.

Gardai revealed that Romanian girls have now joined the ranks of Dublin prostitutes and could soon outnumber them.

A Garda source said: "They are offering all kinds of sex services and very cheaply. The Irish girls are being wiped out."

Romanians are being joined by east Europeans and refugees from Zaire, Somalia and Nigeria.

Immigration officials fear the country is on the brink of a major refugee problem.

Many of those arriving on false passports have fallen foul of their own laws. A Dublin government official said "A big percentage of them are criminals .

"They are up to every dodge - begging on the streets and shoplifting."

He said that 1,200 people sought asylum last year but the number so far this year had far exceeded that.

Refugees pay up to pounds 2,000 to criminals for boat trips to Ireland and bogus passports.

Junior justice minister Joan Burton said: "Many are being directed here by international gangs who specialise in trafficking people."

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