We are heartbroken to announce that the Sex Workers Alliance Ireland (SWAI) is closing our doors after over 16 years, due to a lack of funding.
Since our foundation in 2009, we have brought an alternative voice to the dominant narrative about sex work in Ireland. A voice that has centred the wants and needs of sex workers in Ireland. A voice that does not speak over sex workers. A voice that will soon be lost.
We are proud of the work we have done in the past 16 years. Our CEOs and board brought essential lived experience to the discussion around sex work, workers’ rights and the human rights of sex workers in Ireland. We have not evaded difficult discussions and thorny topics. Ireland is still a country mired in Catholic shame and sex workers bear the brunt of that. We have focused on a harm reduction approach to ensure the health and safety of sex workers has been prioritised.
We want to reiterate that other organisations that work with and represent marginalised communities should be extremely worried about the closure of SWAI. Sex workers have always been the canaries in the coalmine. Sex workers exist at the intersection of women living in poverty, trans and LGBTQI+ people, single mothers, migrants, undocumented people, people in addiction, homeless people and those in insecure housing, disabled people and people with mental health issues. If you are an organisation that provides services for those people, it should concern you that SWAI cannot secure funding to remain open.
This community deserves better than the laws, stigma and discrimination they face at the hands of the state, the Gardaí and some parts of civil society. We have not shied away from critiquing the systemic barriers sex workers face in Ireland. Our failing laws have increased violence against sex workers and we have been silenced time and again.
We want to thank the many organisations and individuals who have helped us along the way. Too many to mention. We leave it to you to ensure that sex workers are not left behind in Ireland.
Before we close at the end of 2025, we will be delivering several sex worker awareness training sessions, so if your organisation is interested in receiving our training please get in touch. We have also developed a “Sex Worker Awareness Toolkit” for distribution that we are happy to email to any organisation interested in order to enhance their knowledge on sex work and how to provide non-judgemental support to sex workers.
On the 17th of December, which is International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers, we will be hosting a Goodbye Party at 7pm in Connolly Books in Dublin, so please come along to say goodbye and celebrate our collective victories over the past years.