The number of Irish sex workers accessing support services increased by 37% last year.
Ruhama, the organisation who published the report, seeks to offer support to women in prostitution and sex trafficking. The organisation is calling for increased fines and penalties for the pimps and traffickers that are profiting from sex work and prostitution.
Sarah Benson, the CEO of Ruhama, says that an increase in fines is necessary and that the prospect of jail time should be looked at.
“What we would really like to see is the full resourcing of the new Garda bureau which is dealing with all forms of human exploitation, including prostitution and trafficking.
“We aren’t seeing those that are actually organising this doing any jail time, and that is something we would like to see more of. Those are the ones who are actually profiting and feeding off this.”