As Anna Rajmon watches her young daughter as they spend time together in her home in the Czech Republic, she is far removed from the hotels, Airbnb rooms, and public transport system which was the bedrock of her work life in Ireland this time last year. She is reunited with her daughter and her mother, who knew nothing of how she made money in Ireland for over three years, or the lengths she had to take to ensure her work could still continue through the lockdowns of the early days of the covid pandemic.
But her phone stores a lot of images which help to trace the pattern of her life in the days from February to August last year. Hundreds of images are there of receipts for hotels across the 32 counties of the island, handwritten tottings of expenses and earnings, videos of hotel and self-catering properties, and text messages with appointments to be kept.
There too is correspondence with landlords who show how some are turning a blind eye to the sex industry in Ireland even while it is being operated from their own properties. My house is now unavailable. May I suggest putting all your surplus work rubbish in another bin away from the house not to make it obvious to our cleaners. However, a landlord in a different area of the country was not taking any risks.
I need to check a few things before I approve you. Apologies for the questions but we have been having a few issues in the building with illegal prostitution and people have been removed swiftly. She also has images that transport her mind to a year earlier, when queries were made of a landlord about a property in Cork. Sorry about this but I cannot have this happening here. Hope this is ok with you. One response from a landlord recalls a time we have almost forgotten β a time when all journeys had to be necessary and where the safest place was deemed to be at home, as per Government messaging of the time.
When requesting a booking of a property in Athlone in March , Anna was asked if her stay was essential in keeping with guidelines, to which the response was that she worked as a sales manager for a company selling face masks and other personal protective equipment.
