Actually listen to sex workers written in marker on canvas

“The review of the law governing sex work in Ireland is not worth the paper it’s written on”, says Linda Kavanagh, spokesperson of the Sex Workers Alliance Ireland. 

Part 4 of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) 2017 was due to be reviewed in 2020 but due to myriad delays, it was not released until yesterday. Linda Kavanagh continued “From the start, this review has been conducted in the most unethical and frustrating way possible. 

The terms of reference for this review state that the review will assess “the impact of the operation of that section on the safety and well-being of persons who engage in sexual activity for payment.” There is no evidence that active sex workers support this law in this report. No weight has been given to the voices of currently active sex workers in this review and there is scant evidence that sex workers were properly engaged in this process. The onus is on the Department of Justice to do this and SWAI raised this concern during forum discussions. 

From the initial survey to this final report, the review has taken the stance that the law is in and of itself a positive thing. SWAI fundamentally disagrees with this position and is supported by extensive evidence that sex workers are harmed by these laws. 

“There is no way to police the purchase of sex without surveilling sex workers. This review supports wasting Garda resources and increasing surveillance powers. Is the Department of Justice going to ignore how Gardaí have abused their powers? Where is the Department of Justice commissioned ‘I Must Be Some Person: Accounts from

Street Sex Workers in Ireland’ report? 

Minister O’Callaghan has admitted that demand for the purchase of sex hasn’t been reduced, so we ask, how can this report say that the law has made progress towards its objectives? Our concerns about the brothel-keeping laws, echoed by the sex workers who were spoken to, were dismissed because “the official statistics identify a shift away from the targeting of the seller to the purchaser”. Only 15 people have been prosecuted for purchasing sex! This also overlooks the fact that brothel-keeping raids and welfare checks to disrupt sex workers don’t end in convictions, but the consequences for sex workers are severe. Gardaí are still targeting sex workers in this way.

Where is the evidence that the law has reduced trafficking? Where is the proof that the law has removed barriers to sex workers accessing social infrastructure or paths to justice? Does it show that sex workers now increasingly report to the Gardaí when they want to report abuse? Does it show that violence against sex workers has decreased under the law? The answer to all of this is NO! 

For seven years we have listed how the law has affected the safety of sex workers. Condoms are used as evidence that sex work has occurred, flying in the face of HIV prevention plans and highlighting the hypocrisy of the government. Sex workers are forced to work alone to work legally, which is not something any other worker is forced to do. 

Government policy leads people into sex work and then it ensures sex workers are less safe. Instead of offering sex workers criminalisation of their income and non-existent resources like the “two dedicated phone lines for direct contact with An Garda Síochána on a 24-hour basis” sex workers should be listened to about the reality of living and working under the law. Where are the calls for resourcing sex workers to learn about their rights?  

State bodies have taken a cowardly approach to sex work. Sex workers were written out of policies and strategy documents. Sex work is framed as gender-based violence instead of an economic activity, which ignores the autonomy of sex workers, removes their labour rights and neglects male workers altogether. Sex worker-led organisations are denied funding. This myopic approach creates a feedback loop that means that the state is praised for actions by organisations that do not engage with sex workers in meaningful ways. 

The law has failed on its own terms, that much is clear. What isn’t clear is how the government and the Department of Justice can continue to ignore the health and safety of a population that it recognises as vulnerable. 

Press release in speech bubble

Reports that the review of the law governing sex work in Ireland has been postponed until 2025 is a significant failure of accountability and transparency.

The Sex Workers Alliance Ireland (SWAI) condemns the Minister for Justice’s continued delays in releasing the promised review of the Nordic Model of sex work laws. The long-awaited review was expected to come out in the next few weeks, as we learned from the media in September. However, it will now be published in early 2025. This delay conveniently extends beyond the tenure of the current government. 

“How can we believe the Minister for Justice about anything when we are continually lied to about the date of this report?” says Linda Kavanagh, spokesperson for SWAI. “We learned this news through the media, which has been a feature of this farcical process over the past 4 years.”

“This review will be 5 years delayed come 2025. The can has been kicked down the road because there is a lack of political support, unlike other laws that have experienced strong public backing, such as the abortion law. However, this does not mean that health, safety, bodily autonomy, and lives are not at risk, just as they are at risk without access to abortion. Will the new government formed after November 29th ignore marginalised communities as much as the current one has?”

“The Department of Justice assured The Journal that sex workers were engaged in this process. We await evidence of this claim because when we engaged with the former independent reviewer, who has since stepped back, we were informed that there was not enough time to consult more sex workers. That was in 2022.” 

“Delaying the review while the laws continue to harm and kill is unconscionable and further compounds the damage caused by a deeply flawed legal framework. The Nordic Model has devastated the safety and wellbeing of sex workers in Ireland. Sex workers in Ireland face a rising tide of violence, evictions, and isolation due to the Nordic Model’s criminalisation of clients and punitive brothel-keeping laws. The tragic murder of sex worker Geila Ibram in 2023 highlights the direct consequences of a system that pushes sex work underground. Current laws prioritise ideology over evidence.”

Brothel-keeping laws criminalise shared workspaces, leaving sex workers vulnerable to eviction, exploitation, and homelessness. Criminalisation isolates sex workers, limits access to peer support, and erodes trust in Gardaí, with only 1% of sex workers reporting crimes compared to 81% of the general population.”

Research consistently demonstrates that decriminalisation is essential for reducing violence and improving safety. Meanwhile, the Nordic Model forces workers to prioritise client safety over their own, exacerbating risks and undermining their autonomy.”

“International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers is less than a month away. Tomorrow is International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. The 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence starts next week. The Irish government’s inaction and contempt for sex workers’ lives is a disgrace—we will not stand by while their harmful laws continue to maim, silence, and kill.”

Client criminalisation is not fit for purpose, has has been met with an increase in sex trafficking and is actively harmed the mental health of sex workers in Northern Ireland, according to a new report from the Department of Justice.

Kate McGrew, current sex worker and spokesperson for the Sex Workers Alliance Ireland (SWAI) said today “This report commissioned by the Department of Justice shows that there has not been a decrease in demand for sex work since the introduction of client criminalisation (also known as the Nordic Model) in Northern Ireland in 2015. Instead, we have seen an increase in sex trafficking by 26% and the health of sex workers put at risk.”

She continues “Sex workers in Ireland tend to work both jurisdictions so a lot of the findings in this report will be applicable to the Republic of Ireland. If the purpose of the law was to decrease demand it has failed. If the purpose of the law was to help sex workers it has failed. In the north, it led to massive increase in advertising (on one site alone over 1700 new ads) and demand (in one jurisdiction by 134%) and a 200% increase threatening behaviour in clients. In the south, it led to an increase of violent crime against sex workers by 92% The law is a failure on the entire island of Ireland.

Northern Ireland was the only region that introduced the Nordic Model that also conducted baseline research so this research must be taken very seriously. 

Sex worker rights activists fought for the liaison officers to remain in public protection, not enforcement. This has resulted in sex workers in Northern Ireland are very appreciative of the work that the PSNI liaison officers do. The PSNI were vocal about their opposition to the law. They knew it would make their work more difficult, and that is reflected in their policing. Gardaí have an increasingly antagonistic approach to sex workers since the change in the law in 1993. Policing consensual sex work does not reduce trafficking and is a waste of resources. 

The law has put the mental health of sex workers at risk by causing an increase in threatening behaviour. This was predicted by sex workers, who were ignored during the process of introducing the laws. Susan Huschke’s research showed clear on the opposition from sex workers (98% were against the change in law). The law has increased our marginalisation and stigmatisation. We deserve better than this.

We want full decriminalisation of sex work on the island of Ireland so that we are safe, healthy and have laws that protect us.