The Closure of Sex Workers Alliance Ireland (SWAI): Implications for Sex Work and Social Work

The 2025 closure of Sex Workers Alliance Ireland marks a pivotal setback for sex-work advocacy. In a climate dominated by neo-abolitionist narratives framing sex work as exploitation, losing SWAI eliminates Ireland's key source of evidence-based, rights-focused advocacy and lived-experience expertise. This manuscript outlines the evolution of Irish policy and its alignment with international neo-abolitionist trends, showing how such discourse has shaped law and social-work practice. Without SWAI, social-justice approaches weaken, increasing risks of coercive or pathologising interventions. The piece calls for a shift toward critical feminist, rights-centred practice and sets out implications for social-work engagement.