The Sex Workers Alliance Ireland (SWAI) is in immediate danger of closing due to lack of funding.
SWAI is running on fumes at the moment. Thanks to your support and the generous donors to our crowdfund, we have been able to continue operating until now. However, we have not confirmed any sustainable core funding for the future, so we will be operating pared-back services for the remainder of 2025. As it stands, we will then close at the end of the year.
We have and will continue to apply for funding, but we do not hold out hope that we will secure any. The funding landscape has always been bleak for sex worker-led organisations such as ours, and the current political climate has only exacerbated this.
Our radical work that critiques the government, the Gardaí, the Nordic Model, including client criminalisation and brothel keeping laws, makes us difficult to fund. We would not be giving voice to the needs and wants of sex workers in Ireland if we toned these statements down. We cannot ethically fulfil our role if we make ourselves more palatable to those in power.
There are costs associated with running a not-for-profit, even if we are not taking in money and we cannot guarantee that we can cover them in the future. We also need to offer clarity to our two part-time paid staff. We are not taking this decision lightly.
We will hold an online EGM on August 12th, 2025, at 6:30 p.m., to dissolve the company. Please email [email protected] for the link.
With the announcement of the closure of Ugly Mugs next month, it should greatly worry wider society that organisations that support the safety and wellbeing of marginalised communities cannot continue to operate in Ireland. We are a rich, diverse nation that prides itself on the progressive strides we have made in the past few years. The hypocrisy of the state and supporters of laws that put people in danger is sickening. These are shameful outcomes.
We urge any organisation that is interested in taking our Sex Workers Awareness Training to book it as soon as possible because it will not be available in 2026. Please email [email protected] for more information or to book.
Thank you to all our supporters who have stood by us, helped uplift our voices and given us support throughout the years. You can continue to donate to our crowdfund here: https://28-days-for-swai.causevox.com/. This will help us with our continuing running costs and pay our staff for as long as possible.
And to the sex workers in Ireland, who remain some of the strongest and most inspiring people we know. Sex workers have always taken care of each other, because they often had no one else to rely on. We don’t doubt that that will remain true.