Statement on the Closure of Ugly Mugs Ireland

July 8th, 2025

We are deeply upset at the announcement last week about the closure of Ugly Mugs Ireland. Ugly Mugs has been a vital safety tool for sex workers working across the island for over a decade and is one of the only effective resources available to us to protect ourselves against violence.

As a small volunteer run operation, they have done incredible work to offer support to sex workers’ safety with unparalleled dedication, despite great personal cost. They have been relentlessly harassed and abused by people looking to attack sex workers and the people who defend us. They have also been publicly maligned by prominent Nordic Model advocates, who claim to be fighting for women’s safety while actively working to remove any protections sex workers have.

The loss of Ugly Mugs comes at a time when there are more sex workers than ever in Ireland, because of increasing poverty, work restrictions on migrants, transphobic employment discrimination, and lack of housing and healthcare. We are also facing increased violence and constant harassment by Gardaí, so losing our one safety tool is a devastating blow.

The closure of Ugly Mugs is happening after ten years of the Nordic Model in the North, and eight years in the Republic. The law and those who lobbied for it have created an environment where people feel emboldened to attack us and our support networks with impunity.

Whilst this is a setback, we are not left helpless and are already looking at ways to ensure that our community protection networks are as strong as possible. We know we can rely on each other as we always have.