"Tanya" (26) is from Dublin and lives with her parents. She began working in prostitution three years ago to fund her heroin addiction. She spent seven months on the Coolmine residential programme for women, and is now on a methadone treatment programme with the Women's Health Project. Although she is off heroin, she continues to work at least one or two nights a week. She is saving the money for when her boyfriend gets out of prison (he is serving a six-year drugs sentence; in jail, he too has managed to kick his habit).

Safety

Last month I was raped and robbed by a client. I got into his car, and he insisted on going to the Phoenix Park. The Wellington Monument isn't bad, you'd see other cars there, but he wanted to go on further, up near the Castleknock gate. He paid me £35 for oral sex, but then he turned around and said he wanted more and he wasn't paying for it. I just let him do it. It was the easiest thing. I'd been paid for the other job so I wasn't too worried. He got out of the car and took the keys with him. When he got back in he had a knife, one of those big hunting knives. I have a knife and a stun gun, but I was afraid if I brought out my knife he'd get more aggressive.

He took money out of my bag and my mobile phone and drove off. I ran into some trees. I could hear him driving up and down, probably looking for me. He must have realised I'd have got the car registration. I made my way through the trees until I found the Ordnance Survey building with a security guard. I told him I'd been attacked and he phoned the gardai. We went back to where it had happened and, luckily, the used condom was still there, so they could use it for DNA testing.

They brought me to the Sexual Assault Unit in the Rotunda. The doctor was nice. There was a woman there from the Rape Crisis Centre. I made an appointment to see her for counselling. She didn't ask me any questions. I just waffled on about my feelings, which was useless. Something like that happening makes you more careful about taking risks. I'm more afraid now that it might happen again.

My body

I don't sell my body for anything less than £40. I used to go for less when I was on drugs. You'll always get a time, especially when you're using drugs, when you'll say "it's only £20 but it's better than nothing". I always use condoms. A lot of the girls are HIV positive and they don't care so much. The rates are different depending on where you're working. On Benburb Street it's £40 for sex, £30 for oral sex and £20 for a hand-job. On Baggot Street they pay a fiver more. For work I wear a skirt and boots. In the winter I wear a heavy coat. On Benburb Street the girls often don't bother dressing up. They're out in their jeans and tracksuits. A lot of the girls on Baggot Street have habits as well, but they hide it better. They dress more sophisticated. Mostly, the girls don't dress too conspicuous because punters are more likely to pick up someone who doesn't stand out.

Work

I usually go out on a Thursday. Or I might go Friday and Sunday. Thursday nights are usually good on Baggot Street. It depends on the weather and how well I do. If I have a good run I'm inclined to stay out. In the summer I don't start working until late, maybe as late as 2 a.m., and then I might be working until 6 a.m. I'd get clients coming out of clubs. In the winter it gets dark earlier so I'd go out at about 6 p.m. Then I might get clients coming home from work. Some nights I'm happy enough to make £40. I don't need the money for drugs now that I'm clean. I'm saving my money for when my boyfriend gets out of prison, for a place for me and him to live.

Working itself can turn into a sort of addiction. The money is your high at the end of the night. I did a FAS course in computers last year. Afterwards I did a work placement in an office in Naas. I can make more money in one night - up to £350 - than in two weeks of that kind of work.

Drugs

I was 19 when I started getting into drugs. I'd go to raves. You'd take your E and then you'd smoke your gear so you could get to sleep afterwards. Once a week is alright, but you'd start smoking it more often. By the time I was 22 I was addicted to heroin. My boyfriend was selling and I got it off him. We were smoking about £500 worth of heroin a day. When he was caught and sentenced three years ago I started working as a prostitute because I needed the money to get the drugs. That's when I started using (injecting) instead of smoking.

When I was using drugs I knew what I was getting into. I could have stopped when I knew I was getting bad but I didn't. Now when I get a craving I just think if I use, I won't be clean any more. I do something to distract myself.

Punters

I call them clients or punters. I get every different kind of person. Most of the girls won't go with ethnics. Men from Cyprus and Turkey are very rough. I notice there is more work recently because more fellows have money to spend, but the rates haven't gone up. When you're with a punter you put it on that you're enjoying yourself, but really you want to hurry up the process so you can get on to the next job. You can build a nice relationship so that it becomes more than a business transaction. A fellow treating you nice and paying you, it makes you want that for yourself in real life. I haven't been with my boyfriend for three years. He's been locked up all that time.

He's not too impressed with me working. He understood when I was on heroin I needed the money but not now I'm off it.

Family

I've never told my parents I work in prostitution, but I know they know. I give them money and I buy them things, but I can't give them too much because I don't want them to realise the extent of what I do. Like I couldn't tell them about being attacked in the Phoenix Park. I just told them my bag was robbed. I have one younger sister. I can't tell her anything either. I got a very good Leaving Cert and my parents said I should go to college. All along I'd wanted to be a marine biologist but I was no good at chemistry. So I did business organisation and economics instead. I wanted a job when I left school so I could have money to go out at the weekend and buy clothes. I started work in a sewing factory. My mother was a sample machinist so I knew it was something I could do. I loved the laugh with the girls but it was hard work and we got only £85 a week for the first six months. If I'd stayed the two and half years to get qualified I would have been earning a maximum of £160 a week.

Three years ago gardai came to our house with a warrant and they found the stuff my boyfriend was getting ready to go and sell. My parents nearly died. They hadn't a clue we were into heroin.

Prostitution

There are hundreds of women out there, of all ages. Some of the older women are in their 50s. A lot of them do massage parlour work. Some older women work in the brothels. The ones in their 30s and 40s, a lot of them are from England. There aren't many ethnics. The pimp now is almost always the girl's boyfriend. The two of them are on drugs. The fellow goes out robbing during the day and the girl goes out working at night. She feels if she doesn't do it to buy drugs, he'll leave her and she won't find anyone else. If she doesn't make a minimum amount of money, she gets battered.

Legalisation

I don't think we'd be able to legalise prostitution in this country. It's a lot to do with religion - you have to have sex with the person you are married to and that's that. Nothing is changing.

I think a lot of men go with prostitutes because it's illegal. It gives them a thrill.

Support

I started the Coolmine programme for getting off the heroin mainly because I didn't want to be sent to prison like my boyfriend. My court case was coming up. I think I got a suspended sentence because I had started at Coolmine (at the same time I started at Coolmine, my boyfriend went cold turkey in prison).

It was very hard at the Women's Residential Unit, like an army camp. You'd have to get up really early, wash, dress, make your bed, get everything immaculate. You had jobs to do from 9 a.m. and then you'd go to group therapy. I learned things in those groups that have helped to keep me clean. But at the time I didn't think it was any use. I couldn't see my boyfriend or have any phone calls.

I stuck it out for seven months, but I couldn't face the thought of two and a half years, which is how long it lasted then. When I left Coolmine I went over to Birmingham, but I got into crack. I was really strung out and I was up in court on shoplifting charges so I came back to Dublin. I knew if they found out I'd been caught shoplifting in Birmingham I'd be straight into Mountjoy. I went cold turkey but after a few weeks I started using again. I was working because I was using.

In August 1999 I got onto the Women's Health Project. I liked it because it was left up to me. I would have been defiant if I'd been told I couldn't use. There was no waiting list and it was designed for women working in prostitution. There are free screenings on a Wednesday afternoon and a Thursday night. You can go and get checked by a doctor. You get your condoms. There's a doctor who's a substance-abuse specialist. There are Ruhama nuns, who are volunteers there, and they tell you about courses and jobs. Outreach workers give you practical help. When I first started on the methadone I still used for a couple of weeks. You could use as much as you wanted. But I stopped because I felt alright with the methadone. It stabilised me. I wasn't sick with withdrawals. In a few months I'll be off the methadone and I'm scared. It will be decision time. My boyfriend will probably get out of prison soon after that - he got six years, but he's up for review. He doesn't want to go back on heroin. But when he's out he might be tempted again.

The Future

When my boyfriend gets out of prison, I think I'll give up the street work and get more into escort work. I do some at Christmas for a guy. He's not a pimp, he's my boss. He protects me. I go to a hotel with the client for an hour and it's £180. Of that I get about £110, and then the client might give me £50 just for myself, which I can keep. The client decides what we're going to do, but I don't have to agree. While I'm working I have my phone with me and I can call down to my boss or whoever is waiting for me if I don't like what's happening.

You get most of your escort work between November and January. Sometimes all you have to do is go to a party with a fellow.

I'm up for review in February. I'll have two years done of my sentence: I got a five-year suspended sentence for possession at the same time my boyfriend was caught. Who knows what the judge will say? I have two soliciting charges and I didn't finish the Coolmine programme.

The Gardai

The gardai might tell you to move on, just to look like they are doing something. Out of spite they might put you in a cell for a few hours. They know you aren't doing any harm, just trying to make a few pounds. Some of them are nice, they warn us about known sex-offenders or else they let you get your money and go before they charge the punter. If you've been cautioned a few times, they'll take you in. All they do is the paperwork and then you're back out again.

Stigma

I don't care what people think. If you cared, you wouldn't be able to do what you do. Still, I don't want my family knowing that it's what I do every day.

Spare Time

Working - that is my social life. I can talk to the other girls that work on the street. We go for a cup of tea and we have a laugh. During the day I do a lot of housework for my Mam, because she hasn't been well. I go shopping, or visit my friend. We have a computer at home, and I spend a lot of time on the Internet. I like watching sport on the telly. I go swimming and power-walking. I'm good at sewing and crochet. About once a week, I meet my sister and her friends for a drink. The difference is, when they're going for the last bus, I'm going to work.

"Tanya" in conversation with Katie Donovan