Pledge to outlaw sex-for-rent practice 'as quickly as possible' brings little comfort to tenants

The renters being targeted in these situations are largely faceless, voiceless, have little money and are mainly from an immigrant background

One woman who was targeted with three sex-for-rent offers when she came to Ireland from Italy told me recently that she has had to have counselling to help her process the impact that being propositioned in such a way had on her.

The fall-out from RTÉ’s Primetime special on sex for rent was predictable—outcry on social media and in traditional media, promises from politicians that something would be done “as quickly as possible”.

So far, so reassuring. But not when we know that we have heard all this before when the Irish Examiner published our investigation into sex-for-rent practices in Ireland more than 18 months ago.