Vulnerable women, including women fleeing the war in Ukraine, are being targeted by men promising free accommodation or discounted rent in exchange for sex, with the opportunities for the abuse “multiplying”, an Oireachtas committee has heard.
The joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice was discussing a Bill drafted by Social Democrats TD Cian O’Callaghan which, if passed, would make it a specific offence to ask for sex from tenants in exchange for free or cheap rent or to advertise free or discounted rent in return for sex.
Mr O’Callaghan said he had been prompted to introduce the Bill amid concerning reports about vulnerable women – including, most recently, Ukrainian refugees – being exploited in this manner.
He said that while no data on the prevalence of such abuse in this jurisdiction existed and there is no specific criminal law on the statute books prohibiting it, so no means of recording it on the Garda’s Pulse system, data from the UK said close to 60,000 women had been targeted in this way over a period of 18 months.
Addressing the hearing, the legal policy director at Rape Crisis Network Ireland, Caroline Counihan, described it as “a serious form of sexual exploitation and abuse of some of the most vulnerable people, especially women and girls, in our society”.
She noted that the opportunities for this form of abuse “are multiplying as the shortage of affordable housing for rent becomes ever more acute and the underlying issue of the shortage of affordable housing also needs to be addressed if this problem is to resolved effectively”.
She said that if the legislation was enacted, it would “also send a strong message that it is unacceptable to exploit a person’s acute need for a roof over their head by making ‘offers’ to supply accommodation and/or a reduced rent in return for sexual services”.
She warned that with the Bill as it stands, if an offer was not accepted then “the offerer cannot be criminalised” and she called for the gap to be closed.
Also addressing the hearing was Gavin Elliot of housing charity Threshold.
He noted that the “full extent of the issue in Ireland is unknown” and while a “small number of private renters have spoken publicly about being offered housing in exchange for sexual activity” very few of Threshold’s clients have reported such propositions.
He said that renters who are offered such arrangements when looking for housing would be unlikely to raise it as an issue with Threshold directly. “This is likely due to it currently not being an offence and there being no reporting mechanism in place.”
He said that in the absence of reliable evidence on the prevalence of the issue in Ireland international comparisons offer “troubling indications that the recent press reports on this issue may only be the tip of the iceberg”.
He said that of particular concern was research from England, a jurisdiction which shares a similar rental culture to Ireland. “It would be a mistake, in our view, to not regard the evidence that has been gathered in the England about this practice as significant. We believe that it is an indication that the practice is occurring in Ireland and is relatively widespread.”
He said that based on the UK numbers, as many as 3,872 renter households may have been targeted.
Irish Examiner reporter Ann Murphy, who has written extensively on the issue, said ads offering rental accommodation in exchange for sex “are still to be found online even as we discuss this legislation today”.
She warned that many women who have been targeted in this way are reluctant to go to the Garda “for reasons including a fear that they will not be believed or taken seriously”.
