The Irish Government has granted taxpayer funds to an activist NGO supported by George Soros, which advocates for the decriminalisation of prostitution and which aims to “eradicate whorephobia” from society by supporting “female, male, cisgender and transgender sex workers.”
The Sex Workers’ Alliance of Ireland (SWAI) says its mission is to achieve “the decriminalisation and de-stigmatisation of sex work”, including erotic masseuses, stippers, escorts, pornstars, dominatrixes, and outright prostitutes, adding: “We want to eradicate whorephobia.”
Sex work is an umbrella term that essentially includes all professions that involve selling sex for money, to different degrees and in various forms.
As part of its “mission statement” on its website, the SWAI says they reject the idea that sex workers need to be “saved” from this ‘career’ or lifestyle.
“SWAI will never actively encourage anyone to exit the industry,” the group says.
“..We do not believe in the hierarchical dynamics of ‘saving’ sex workers prevalent in organisations seeking to ‘end prostitution’ through criminalisation, conversion, or ‘rescuing’,” the group says.
“…We speak and work with sex workers to fight against stigma and shame, and demand the full decriminalisation of sex work and active improvement of sex workers’ lives and working conditions.”
Notably, since 2015, the Open Society Foundation run by billionaire George Soros has been funding the SWAI.
Part of the group’s mission is also fighting “capitalism”, and they say they reject the “whorearchy that exists within sex work.”
“We are anti-capitalist, anti-ableist, anti-xenophobic, trans-inclusive and anti-white supremacy,” the group says on their website as part of their mission statement.
“…SWAI advocates for the human rights of all current and former sex workers on the island of Ireland (north and south), be they LGBTQIA+, hetero, cis, trans, people of colour, Traveller, disabled, able-bodied, male, female, non-binary, undocumented, migrant, drug-using, neurodiverse, or of any faith.”
RECEIVING IRISH TAXPAYER FUNDING
Just before Christmas 2024, the Department of Equality under Green Party leader and then-Minister Roderic O’Gorman announced that the SWAI would be receiving €9,387 in taxpayer funding nationwide under the 2024 LGBTI+ Community Services Fund. This money was granted to support the SWAI in offering Sex Worker Awareness Training (SWAT) for LGBTQI+ groups.
Since granting this funding, O’Gorman has left the role of Equality Minister, and been replaced by Fianna Fáil’s Norma Foley as of this week.
Notably, in 2020, the SWAI was denied State funding by the Department of Justice unless the group accepted that “prostitution is inherently exploitative of vulnerable people” – something which the SWAI apparently refused to do.
According to an article in the Irish Examiner from that time:
…”Funding is made available for projects that are aligned with wider Government policies.
Gript asked the Department of Justice if this was still the Government’s position, and they indicated that it was, with a Department spokesman saying: “It is generally recognised that prostitution is inherently exploitative of vulnerable persons, mainly women and girls, and that many people are forced into prostitution through trafficking, drug addiction, homelessness and poverty and this is reflected in the relevant legislation.”
However, when Gript asked how this could be reconciled with the Department of Equality’s decision to fund this group, the Department of Justice did not reply.
Gript asked the Department of Equality the same question, and received only a brief response.
“The eligibility criteria for the LGBTI+ Community Services Fund is set out in the published guidance note,” a Department spokesman said.
“The grant scheme is open to applications from existing LGBTI+ non-government organisations and community organisations working with LGBTI+ people. As such, the Sex Workers’ Alliance was eligible to apply in line with published guidance and scored sufficiently highly to be granted funding in a competitive funding call.”