An organisation which supports sex workers has begun a fresh round of issuing shopping vouchers to those who need them after warning that the cost of living crisis is causing serious hardship.
Ahead of Sex Workers Rights day this Friday, the Sex Workers Association of Ireland (SWAI) said it was launching another round of providing €30 Tesco vouchers to those who need them and revealed it issued vouchers worth €3,600 to sex workers last year.
Linda Kavanagh of the SWAI said many sex workers were increasingly vulnerable because of the cost of living crisis, including the possibility that some are accepting clients they would not normally deal with because they need income.
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"For the people we speak to the cost of living crisis is a crisis or follow-on from the housing crisis - that has been an issue that has been rumbling for a very long time," Ms Kavanagh said.
"Sex workers face a lot of precarity around housing, people do not really want to rent to a sex worker and sometimes those that do can be quite exploitative. So that is an issue that is ongoing.
"Generally sex work is an economic activity and relies on people having discretionary income and at the moment that is not really the case. From people we have talked to things are tight.
"With that comes more of a pressing issue for sex workers," she said. "They may feel compelled, through poverty, through need, to accept clients they would not normally accept."
Ms Kavanagh said this could lead to "more dangerous situations", particularly as current laws mean sex workers must work alone to work legally.
The SWAI estimates that there are between 1,000 and 3,000 sex workers operating in Ireland but Ms Kavanagh said there was no definitive figure.
However, the Tesco vouchers - purchased in bulk - allow anyone who needs some financial assistance to avail of them. The initiative began during the pandemic and Ms Kavanagh said vouchers worth €3,600 were issued last year. The vouchers can also be sent via WhatsApp.
"100% of the donations that we get go directly into the hands of sex workers," Ms Kavanagh said.
Another new initiative is sex work awareness training, which the SWAI will shortly provide. Ms Kavanagh said: "There is a lot of organisations that will have and will be encountering sex workers. The training is to ensure they are as welcoming as they can be, as sex workers can be stigmatised."
She said sex workers can engage with a state agency or other organisation on a specific issue and the discussion instead becomes focussed on what they do for a living.
"That means people are really pushed away from services that could help them," she added.
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