Sex for rent ban must be progressed this week
Sex for rent ban must be progressed this week - The Labour Party
Labour Senator Laura Harmon has urged the Minister for Justice to criminalise the serious and devastating practice of advertising rental accommodation in exchange for sex.
With the Criminal Law and Civil Law (Misc Provisions) Bill 2026 due to be debated in the Dáil on Thursday (22nd January), Senator Harmon said it is women who are most vulnerable to this kind of abuse and they need legal protections.
Senator Harmon said:
“I brought forward Labour Party legislation last year to criminalise the practice of offering rooms to rent in exchange for sex, yet here we are in a new year with no progress. Minister O’Callaghan has made commitments to enact laws to stamp this practice out, and I am reiterating my call on him today to deliver protections for vulnerable renters, particularly for women at risk of homelessness.
“Unfortunately I’m aware that ads still exist online where people are clearly using the housing crisis to prey on vulnerable people living in insecure housing. It needs to stop and it needs to stop now.
“A report from the National Women’s Council last year shone a stark light on just how prevalent this is. Marginalised women, particularly those already at risk of homelessness, are being targeted by men who offer housing in return for sex. This is happening in modern Ireland—and it is a national disgrace.
“Criminalising ‘sex for rent’ is about justice and protection. We must send a clear message: abuse will not be tolerated, no matter the guise under which it presents itself. I would urge the Government to heed the calls of the Labour Party and enact protections for vulnerable renters now.”