Oireachtas to publish updates on sex-for-rent bill

A report is due to be published on Tuesday relating to the scrutiny undertaken of the Ban on Sex for Rent Bill 2022.

A decision following pre-legislative scrutiny of a bill aimed at outlawing sex-for-rent arrangements will be published by the Oireachtas Justice Committee on Tuesday.

A report is due to be published on Tuesday relating to the scrutiny undertaken of the Ban on Sex for Rent Bill 2022.

The bill was referred to the committee earlier this year by Social Democrats housing spokesman Cian O’Callaghan, who is also a member of the Oireachtas Housing Committee.

Mr O’Callaghan introduced the bill in the Dáil in March, on International Women’s Day, following an investigation into sex-for-rent in the rental sector by the Irish Examiner last December.

Seven-year jail term

The bill proposes a jail term of seven years and a fine of up to €50,000. The offences in the bill include sex-for-rent propositions, as well as the advertising of such propositions, and the hosting of such advertisements.

The bill was supported by the Government at second stage, although junior justice minister James Browne highlighted some areas of concern in the bill.

In recent weeks, a Mexican student, Alma Yasbeth Pacheco Correa, told the Irish Examiner that she was asked for an intimate photo by a man to whom she had paid a deposit of €480 for a room in a shared house in Tallaght in Dublin. She was also offered a bed-sharing arrangement by a different landlord in another property. She has also been unable to get her deposit back from the first landlord, even though he told her she could have it back if she was not happy with a change in date for her tenancy to start.

Foreign women have told the Irish Examiner about being offered reduced or no rent in return for sex or bed-sharing with landlords in different parts of the country.