Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Bill and acknowledge the long journey that has taken us to this place. In 2019, when Deputies Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire and Martin Kenny published their Bill, it was clear that no victim of sexual assault should face questioning on their clothing in a courtroom without legal representation. Some four years later, following Trojan work by victim advocacy groups, we are finally at a place where the Government has listened.

This year, the Cork Sexual Violence Centre celebrated 40 years in existence. I want to pay respect to the amazing work it has done in Cork, in particular to the work of Mary Crilly and the other staff and volunteers who create a safe place for those going through the hardest of times. They have called now for a ban on sex for rent. This is often a tactic used by unscrupulous landlords to target vulnerable women who have nowhere to live. This has been highlighted by numerous reports and Sinn Féin recently published a Bill aimed at banning sex for rent.

I am asking the Government not to wait four years this time. It has taken four years to get to this stage and we do not need to wait another four years because victims of sexual assault need support.

It is so often the case that victims in this State are overlooked and that basic change take too much time to be implemented. Reform should have happened sooner and now we need to see an end to the sex for rent practice.

The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission has once again slammed Ireland for the treatment of victims of human trafficking. A total of 42 victims were identified last year. This is considered to be just the tip of the iceberg. Once again though, we must look at Garda resourcing. We are asking gardaí to investigate these complex crimes but there are not enough gardaí to police the streets of our cities. Thanks to their work last year, gardaí identified 42 victims of human trafficking but only eight beds were available in a specific shelter for them. It is time we took this issue seriously and work to address the significant gaps in our approach to the horror that is human trafficking.

See this speech in context