Martin Browne (Tipperary, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Cian O'Callaghan for bringing forward this Bill. The types of acts it seeks to address are repugnant in the extreme and indicate the ease with which some people are ready to take whatever advantage they can of the desperation others experience in trying to secure a home. When I read these revelations, published in the Irish Examiner, words failed me. The fact that some people just see others as expendable, as objects to be used, is incomprehensible to me.

When this story first broke, Sinn Féin's housing spokesperson immediately raised it with the Ministers for Housing, Local Government and Heritage and Justice. We are now approaching the end of March and still there is no specific criminal offence for the practice of landlords offering free or reduced rent in exchange for sex. We need action and that is what this Bill proposes. The people who use others in this way have no sense of empathy for those who are in severe need of housing. It is the exploitation of people who feel they have few options when it comes to accommodation. It also is the exploitation of people who are newly arrived in this country and who may be less aware of how or where to receive advice and support on their rights. While the vulnerability of certain people in accessing the rental market needs to be addressed seriously and urgently, what we are talking about here is the willingness of some predators, who have no morals and no objection to dehumanising people for their own gains, to use the broken rental market as a vehicle to do so.

Exploitation always targets the most vulnerable and often is accompanied by misogyny, as we see in this case and which, unfortunately, continues to raise its head. We have a duty to protect everyone in Ireland from exploitation and from those who are ready to take advantage of people they see as vulnerable. This is especially timely given how the rising cost of living is leading to increased poverty. In unprecedented times such as these, predators see the opportunity. The Government must counter this with action, including legal sanctions and provisions for An Garda Síochána to monitor and act on practices such as these, which seek to exploit others. I welcome the Bill, which calls for the creation of an offence of requiring or accepting sex as a condition of accommodation and an offence of arranging for, or facilitating, such exchange. We need action now. There is no time for delay and we cannot allow increased need to be accompanied by increased exploitation.

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