Women who have been victims of human trafficking are being housed “inappropriately in direct provision congregated settings”, according to the chief executive of Ruhama.
The charity, which supports women impacted by prostitution, sex trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation, saw a 31 per cent increase last year in the number of trafficking victims engaging with it.
Its chief executive, Barbara Condon, said human trafficking was now “in every corner of Ireland”.
In 2025, 284 used the charity’s services, a significant increase which “reflects how the global epidemic of violence against women is happening every day” and all across Ireland.
Noting that “many victims” were being housed “inappropriately” in congregated settings in direct provision, Condon stressed that “safe, appropriate and specialist accommodation” was needed to protect victims and to allow them recover.
“Without a secure place to live, it is almost impossible for women to rebuild their lives,” she said, calling for their current housing to be “addressed as a priority”.
In total, 1,242 individuals engaged with Ruhama in 2025, representing a 10 per cent increase from 2024; 77 of those victims were male.
Data from Ruhama points to Nigerian women being the largest cohort of women victims of prostitution and human trafficking – making up more than half of the known human trafficking victims in Ireland at 177. Prostitution victims from Zimbabwe (50) and Ireland (46) were the next most frequent.
Ruhama said its case workers recorded a 77 per cent increase in the number of victims seeking suicide prevention assistance.
“Accommodation issues remain a significant challenge, with service users requiring support in relation to Ipas (International Protection Accommodation Service) transfers, the housing crisis, unsuitable accommodation and experiences of homelessness,” the charity said.
Immigration decisions around the right to work, Ruhama said, have left women “more vulnerable to sexual exploitation” and have impacted their mental health.
The service said it had facilitated nearly 1,200 appointments for victims with its trauma therapists and had helped 190 service users to start new education courses within the year.
In the education system, however, the lack of part-time courses and an “increasingly hostile housing environment” for migrants were raised as some of the barriers facing victims.
The charity also trains people working in the Irish immigration system how to identify victims of human trafficking.