Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan is committed to enacting legislation as quickly as possible to combat the “appalling and exploitative behaviour” of landlords, homeowners and tenants subletting accommodation in return for sex.
The Minister was speaking as the Seanad debated a Private Members’ Bill to ban sex for rent, introduced by a cross-party group of senators led by Labour Senator Laura Harmon and supported by organisations including the National Women’s Council, Rape Crisis Network Ireland and Women’s Aid.
Ms Harmon said the Prohibition of Advertising or Importuning Sex for Rent Bill deals with the situation where landlords, property owners or those subletting “would offer reduced or free accommodation in exchange for sex from prospective or current tenants”.
She said this practice “preys upon individuals who are often in vulnerable situations, such as students, low-income earners, migrants, women or those facing homelessness”.
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The ads are placed on prominent websites such as Daft.ie on Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp groups and other social media.
It is often only when the person views the room that the nature of what has been offered becomes clear, she said. “And this can be very scary for people. It’s often those whose first language is not English who are most vulnerable to this ambiguous language that is often a feature of these ads online.”
The Bill makes it an offence to advertise or provide accommodation free or for reduced rent in return for sex, punishable with a fine of up to €50,000.
The Cork-based senator pointed to two previous attempts to legislate for these offences from the Social Democrats and Sinn Féin and hoped it would be “third time lucky”.
The Minister said the Attorney General had difficulties with the Bill as currently drafted. Mr O’Callaghan highlighted a number of concerns including around definitions of terms and clarity about the parameters of the offence of publishing or distributing an advertisement for the purposes of obtaining sex in exchange for rent.
But he said he agreed fundamentally with the substance of the legislation. “It is totally unacceptable that somebody would abuse their position by having access to accommodation and prey on the vulnerable person by seeking to extract sexual services out of them in order to provide accommodation.”
[ Sex for rent offers in Dublin: The landlord wanted me to share a bed with himOpens in new window ]
The Bill’s sponsors hoped that with amendment the legislation could be enacted by the start of the college year in September when student accommodation is at a premium.
The Minister warned, however, that legislation takes time but he hoped to expedite a Bill “as quickly as possible” whether through amendment of the current Bill or with a separate stand-alone piece of legislation.
Labour’s Nessa Cosgrove said “this Bill will not end the housing catastrophe, but it will end the advertising or requesting of sexual services for no rent.
“It will send a clear message that this predatory behaviour will not be tolerated and that perpetrators will face serious consequences.”
Green Party senator Malcolm Noonan, who also sponsored the Bill, said this “disgraceful practice of advertising rental properties in return for sex” had become “more pervasive” in recent years and “much more widespread than we as policymakers would like to believe. It’s not just a Dublin or Cork or a Limerick phenomenon. It is a problem throughout the country.”
