Cathal Byrne (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senators Harmon, Cosgrove, Noonan and Stephenson for introducing this Bill in the House today and commend them on doing so. It is safe to say I can speak for everybody in this Chamber in saying that anybody who chooses to perpetrate the practice of, or promote, sex for rent is abhorrent. It is completely and utterly against what good, decent Irish people stand for. It is only right and proper that there be legislation in this area and, indeed, a criminal statutory offence for anybody who engages in the practice. I note the aim of this legislation is to prohibit the advertising of sex for rent but also to promote a criminal offence for anybody who does so. That is certainly to be welcomed.

I am aware of the background to the Bill. I wish to put on record my congratulations to Ann Murphy of the Irish Examiner and my appreciation for her work in this area. It is only right and proper that, on Second Stage of this Bill, the work she has done to highlight this issue and tell some of the stories of the victims of the horrible act in question be acknowledged and noted. I also acknowledge that this is the third Bill in the Chamber seeking to criminalise sex for rent. I recognise the work done by the Oireachtas justice committee in this area. There were significant debates and discussions and a significant examination at meetings of the committee and in the public consultation work it undertook with various stakeholders, including the RTB.The most important purpose of any legislation is to make sure that if we are to introduce a criminal penalty for something, it stands up to scrutiny and a prosecution can be successful. I noticed that, in the Chamber earlier, we had Deputy Bacik, who was my law professor in Trinity College Dublin when I studied law. I am sure that she would agree with the spirit of that as well.

It is important to recognise the work that has been done in the programme for Government, which is committed to creating a statutory offence in this area. I am aware that the Minister will contribute on this debate later. It is a priority for Fine Gael and the Government to make sure there is a zero-tolerance approach to domestic, sexual and gender-based violence. I recognise the work that was done by the former Minister, Helen McEntee, in creating the domestic, sexual and gender-based violence agency, Cuan, and committing in the programme for Government to 280 new refuge spaces by 2026 and a refuge in every county over the course of this term. I acknowledge the great work that is being done in the new women's refuge in Wexford town, which I had the opportunity to visit last year on its official opening. It is important to note that as well.

There was plenty of discussion on this legislation as it made its way through previously, but one of the concerns that was flagged was that, while there was not any constitutional issue with creating a specific criminal offence of advertising sex for rent or promoting sex for rent, the drafting had to be sufficiently precise to make sure that, if there were to be prosecutions, they could stand up. There is a balance to be sought between somebody, for example, a college student, who advertises to rent a room and does not intend to pursue anything of a sexual nature but may suggest that he or she is looking for somebody with whom he or she can get on. It is important that any legislation that is introduced strikes that balance between not seeking to criminalise a poorly worded advertisement that is put up by a college student and seeking to criminalise the advertisement of an expressed exchange of sex for rent. It is important that, as this legislation makes its way through the Oireachtas system, this balance is struck. It is important that we balance the goal we are seeking to achieve with any responsibilities we have to make sure there are not prosecutions taken where that offence was never the intent.

I congratulate the Senators on introducing the Bill. As somebody who is 33 years of age, I have seen advertisements that have been put forward in which the clear intent behind them was to advertise sex for rent. While the wording was meant to disguise that, that was the clear intention. This is something that should never be allowed in this country. We have a legal vacuum on it at the moment, and it is only right and proper that we all work together in this House to criminalise something that the people who are watching certainly expect us to.