Taoiseach wants more prosecutions for people operating sex-for-rent arrangements

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said he wants to see more prosecutions for people offering sex-for-rent arrangements. He also suggested the current laws in place are sufficient to deal with the issue.

“What I’d actually like to see is prosecutions,” he said to the Irish Examiner. “I spoke to the Attorney General about this in the past week and to Minister McEntee and the advice that I have from the Attorney General is that this is already an offence - to seek or receive money or another consideration like rent for example, is already illegal in Ireland.”

“Just for clarity, we could strengthen the law by specifying that rent is one of the things it could be in return for any consideration, to use the legal term, but I don’t think what will really change things is a more specific law," he added.

Sinn Féin's @EOBroin publishes a Bill to outlaw appalling, predatory practice of landlords seeking sex-for-rent.

It's time for action. It's time to protect renters pic.twitter.com/LHqc9xGqoB

— Sinn Féin (@sinnfeinireland) August 2, 2023

Yesterday, Eoin Ó Broin of Sinn Féin released legislation that would criminalise these sex-for-rent arrangements.

The legislation would also make the advertising of sex-for-rent offers a criminal offence.

Last year, the Ban on Sex for Rent Bill 2022 was brought by Social Democrats TD Cian O’Callaghan following another report on the issue from the Irish Examiner.

O'Callaghan's bill received support from all parties but was stopped at committee level.

The issue resurfaced as a national concern last week, following an RTÉ Investigates special which exposed landlords seeking sexual favours as rent.