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Press release: Expunging Of Criminal Records for “Sale of Sex” Cautiously Welcomed

Apr 26, 2021

Sex Workers Alliance Ireland (SWAI) Welcomes Minister McEntee’s Initiativeto Expunge 607 Convictions for the Sale of Sex but says it does not go far enough. The Criminal Law Sexual Offenses Act 2017 criminalised the purchase of sex and nearly tripled penalties for...

Press Release: For Woman Charged with Facilitation of Prostitution, Sex Workers Alliance Ireland Demands Court Obey Deportation Moratorium

Jan 27, 2021

Sex Workers Alliance Ireland (SWAI) demands that the courts obey the blanket ban on deportations reinstated by the Taoiseach since Level 5 Covid restrictions began. A 32-year-old Polish native with an 11-month old son was handed down a suspended sentence yesterday in...

Press Release: Misguided law led to attack on trans worker, says Sex Workers Alliance Ireland

Jan 22, 2021

Liam Vickers preyed on a vulnerable trans woman and was enabled by our recently changed laws Kate McGrew, director of Sex Workers Alliance Ireland (SWAI) says “The Sex Workers Alliance Ireland (SWAI) applauds this brave sex worker who reported the crime and we call...

Structural and actual violence against sex workers did not end under COVID

Dec 17, 2020

December 17th marks International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers. Kate McGrew, director of Sex Workers Alliance Ireland (SWAI) says “This year the review of the sex work laws has begun and we worked to ensure that sex worker’s voices were heard in the...

Press Release: “It’s a brothel. I’ll end you!” – chilling words of a man who attacked two sex workers

Oct 14, 2020

Today the Sex Workers Alliance Ireland (SWAI) learned that two sex workers working together for safety were attacked precisely because they were, in the eyes of the law, working illegally. Two workers were sharing a premises in Limerick when a client refused to...

Press Release: Migrant worker guilty of working with another worker says Sex Workers Alliance Ireland

Oct 10, 2020

Today the Sex Workers Alliance Ireland (SWAI) learned of a migrant who has pled guilty to brothel-keeping charges in Waterford. Kate McGrew, active sex worker and director of the Sex Workers Alliance Ireland (SWAI) said “The crime of so-called brothel-keeping punishes...

Press release: World Day Against Trafficking in Persons highlights Ireland’s failure

Jul 29, 2020

Today, 30th July is World Day Against Trafficking in Persons. Falling from Tier 1 to Tier 2 Watchlist in the Trafficking in Person’s Report since the purchase of sex law was introduced shows that Ireland is not utilising its best weapon against sex trafficking: sex...

Press release: Review will show that the current law is a failed experiment

Jul 9, 2020

Sex workers must be listened to in the review of the sex work law Currently working sex workers in Ireland are central to the review of the law, says Kate McGrew, sex worker and director of the Sex Workers Alliance Ireland (SWAI). We are the experts in how this law...

Press release: Time to decriminalise sex work in order to combat Ireland’s failure to combat trafficking

Jun 26, 2020

Ireland has moved from Tier 2 to Tier 2 Watch List in the US State Department Trafficking in Persons report, released yesterday. This shows that our sex work laws are failing to help sex trafficking victims. Gardaí are ignoring and creating antagonism with their best...

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About

SWAI supports the self-determination of all sex workers to be given a voice and allowed to speak on their own behalf. We support a harm reduction policy in relation to sex work and that sex workers should be granted the same rights as all other workers.

Mission Statement: To promote the social inclusion, health, safety, civil rights and the right to self determination of female, male, cisgender and transgender sex workers.