Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

I will share time with Deputy Bríd Smith. We will vote for this legislation, which has become known as the sex-for-rent Bill. We will not shed any tears whatsoever if landlords who advertise sex-for-rent arrangements end up either with hefty fines or even behind bars. These people are creeps who exploit their position of power over people who have less or no power and need a roof over the heads.

The situation is given an added urgency with the arrival of Ukrainian refugees. TheIrish Examinerrecently exposed the case of a landlord in County Clare who said that he wanted a slim Ukrainian to come to stay. The landlord did not disclose the location of the property and wanted photographs sent first. It was a sex-for-accommodation arrangement. This just shows the need for this legislation to go through the Oireachtas quickly.

Of course, it is not a solution to the problem and does not come close to resolving it because landlords will tend not to openly advertise. They will go about their nefarious business in more sly ways where there is less proof that can be used as evidence. If this acts as something of a chilling factor or a deterrent of any kind and saves even a handful of women from going through this experience, it is positive and we will vote for that.

Of course, the root cause of the problem is the massive power imbalance between the power of the landlord on one hand and tenants on the other. This is even more so when the State faces the greatest housing crisis since its foundation. On the one hand, one has a property owner who has sufficient wealth, which might be modest, to have his or her own accommodation and spare accommodation to rent, such as a house or an apartment. On the other hand, one has a person who does not have a roof over his or her head and cannot afford many of the properties that are on the market given the high rate of rent. That is a recipe for sexual exploitation to take place. Some would say a significant majority of landlords would never countenance going down such a road. I accept that is the case for a clear majority of landlords. However, is there a minority who will go down that road? There is such a minority and it is perhaps greater than many might expect.

The key is to reduce that power imbalance. While one has landlordism, one can never reduce it to nil, but one can reduce it massively as much as one can. What kind of policies are we talking about? We are talking about a massive social housebuilding programme, a ban on evictions and the State playing the key decisive role in terms of providing accommodation for the new arrivals from Ukraine. We will not be able to achieve those things playing by the rules of the market. We need to rip up those rules and challenge the property rights of the owners of the vacant properties, including the big vulture funds who own vacant apartment blocks, the hotel owners and so on. We will vote for the legislation but we want to raise those points because they are key. We will keep pressure on those fronts as well.

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