Ann Murphy: Sex-for-rent legislation must be enacted without delay
The legislation will cover rental arrangements between landlords and tenants, as well as 'rent-a-room' situations.
The ink was barely dry on the Cabinet stamp of approval on legislation to outlaw sex for rent when my phone pinged.
Flashing up on my screen was a message about a young au pair from South America who was trapped in a sex-for-rent situation which is unlikely to be improved even if the legislation had immediately come into effect.
As it currently stands, the General Scheme of Criminal Law and Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2025 is still not enacted.
But even if it was, the young au pair’s fear would have made it unlikely that the legislation would have been a panacea for her situation.
The woman living in rented accommodation in the Cork area had been offered reduced rent by her landlord, if she would have sex with him.
So far, so standard, as sex-for-rent demands go.
But while the proposal from justice minister Jim O’Callaghan on how to tackle such demands was getting media attention in May, the dilemma facing the young South American in Cork was stark.
She did not know where to turn, apart from talking to friends in Ireland.
But as for going to authorities to seek help, that was something that was not as easy for her to do.
Not alone are there no current legal deterrents to offering sex for rent until the new legislation comes in, but women like her fear that telling their story to authorities will somehow affect their status in Ireland, having come here to improve their English, save money, and start a new life.
Without the support network of family, a lack of knowledge of services available to people in their position, and the low supply of alternative rental accommodation, women like the South American au pair face harsh choices of trying to find new accommodation, return to their homeland, or consider the arrangement being offered to them by their unscrupulous landlord.
Under the General Scheme of Criminal Law and Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2025 approved by the cabinet in May, it will be an offence to offer accommodation in exchange for sex, and to advertise accommodation in exchange for sex.
A fine of up to €5,000 will be the penalty for those convicted.
The legislation will cover rental arrangements between landlords and tenants, as well as “rent-a-room” situations.
It will apply to online and text messages offering sex for rent arrangements, as well as advertisements on newspapers, radio and television, or displayed notices.
It will include a provision to ensure that someone who publishes such an advertisement without realising its true intent will not be prosecuted.
The legislation states: “This is to ensure that someone who innocently publishes an advertisement without realising its nature will not be criminalised.”
However, in order for such legislation to work, it needs to be known about by the very people it aims to protect — mainly migrant women who come to Ireland either as students, to learn English, or to work.
The legislation follows an investigation in the which found a number of online accommodation advertisements for sex-for-rent arrangements in December 2021.
Subsequently, this newspaper spoke with several women who were offered accommodation at reduced or no rent, with the expectation that sex or bedsharing with the landlord would be part of the arrangement.
All but one were foreign women who had moved to Ireland for either study or work.
The assertion that visitors to our country are the main ones being targeted by such offers was backed up by research published by the Irish Council for International Students (ICOS) earlier this year.
A survey as part of the research found that 5% of female respondents said they had either received an offer to rent a room in Ireland in exchange for sex, or had seen a room that was being advertised in exchange for sex.
A female student from Mexico who took part in the survey said she had posted on social media she was looking for a room to rent.
She received two responses “from men saying they had a room to rent and asking me what I could offer in exchange".
"One of them directly said that I could sleep with him, he then sent some obscene images.”
A French Erasmus student reported: "The owner [who has a studio in the house] asked after five days if I wanted to have sex with him.”
As the more recent case in Cork mentioned above highlights, there needs to be an awareness-raising exercise targeted at people, especially women, moving to Ireland to work or study.
The legislation will not stamp out sex-for-rent offers as sex has been used as a currency in our world since Methuselah was a baby.
What happens between consenting adults is not what this legislation is about.
Nor is it why lobby groups like ICOS and the National Women’s Council have been calling for action on sex for rent — including this week at a seminar in Dublin about housing and domestic violence.
The legislation is about ensuring that marginalised, low-income women at the end of their tether in the stifling rental market are not forced into situations of a power imbalance to keep a roof over their heads as they seek to make a better life, often thousands of miles from home.
The proposed legislation will not stamp it out but, when eventually enacted, it will be a start in tackling the imbalance.
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