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SWAGS: Sex Workers and An Garda Síochána—Reimagining Sex Work Policing in Ireland

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Sex Work, Labour and Relations

Part of the book series: Palgrave Advances in Sex Work Studies ((PASWS))

Abstract

This chapter considers the legislative context of sex work in the Republic of Ireland, policing policy, and sex workers’ experiences with An Garda Síochána (AGS), the police force in the Republic of Ireland. The author discusses the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 2017, and the policies that AGS follow regarding sex work offences. Legislation and policy documents are reviewed and compared to documents in England and Wales. The author then considers sex workers’ experiences of interacting with AGS. This section reviews recent research by the (Sex Workers Alliance Ireland in I Feel Targeted and I Can’t Feel Safe: Peer research of sex workers’ experiences under the law. Sex Workers Alliance Ireland, 2020), ( Campbell, R., Smith, L., Leacy, B., Ryan, M. & Stoica, B in Not collateral damage: Trends in violence and hate crimes experienced by sex workers in the Republic of Ireland’. Irish Journal of Sociology, p.0791603520939794, 2020), (McGarry, K., & Ryan, P. in Sex worker lives under the law: A community engaged study of access to health and justice in Ireland. HIV Ireland, 2020), and ( Berry, A. in Life for Sex Workers in Ireland Under the Swedish Model of Client Criminalisation. Unpublished thesis, Dublin Business School, Dublin, 2020) whom all investigated sex workers’ experiences in Ireland under the current legislation. The author provides a critical analysis of the policing of sex work, which if operating in the spirit of the law should be protecting rather than punishing sex workers. The author also considers how policing intersects with housing and migration issues for sex workers. The chapter concludes with a radical social imaginary where sex workers are recognised as full citizens in Ireland, who do not fear AGS. The author considers the legislation, policies, and culture change required to make this sociological imaginary a reality.

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Acknowledgements

Thanks to my supervisors Prof. Maggie O’Neill and Dr. Chiara Bonfiglioli for help with early drafts of this chapter; and to the editors for their friendly support and guidance.

Funding

I am a recipient of the University College Cork College of Arts, Celtic Studies and Social Sciences Postgraduate Excellence Scholarship; and the Irish Research Council Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholarship (GOIPG-2021–1401).

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  1. University College Cork, Cork, Ireland

    Doris Murphy

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  1. School of Criminology, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK

    Teela Sanders

  2. Department of Applied Social Studies, Maynooth University, Maynooth, Kildare, Ireland

    Kathryn McGarry

  3. Department of Sociology, Maynooth University, Maynooth, Kildare, Ireland

    Paul Ryan

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Murphy, D. (2022). SWAGS: Sex Workers and An Garda Síochána—Reimagining Sex Work Policing in Ireland. In: Sanders, T., McGarry, K., Ryan, P. (eds) Sex Work, Labour and Relations. Palgrave Advances in Sex Work Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-04605-6_6

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