The Justice Minister has admitted there is no deadline for legislation to ban sex for hire, 18 months after the government promised to tackle the issue.
As reported by the Irish Examiner, Minister Helen McEntee described landlords as “absolutely horrendous”, preying on vulnerable people who are desperate for housing, and looking for sex leases.
“It should never be the case that somebody is put in that position, particularly vulnerable people,” she said, reports Breaking News.
“We are trying to bring forward proposals as quickly as we possibly can,” she added, reports Breaking News.
However, Ms McEntee admitted on Friday that “we don’t have a timeframe” for introducing new laws but said the government was “trying to move on it as quickly as possible”, reports Breaking News.
The Prohibition of Sex for Rent Bill, introduced by Social Democrat TD Cian O’Callaghan in March 2022, failed to move forward after passing the draft bill.
The Department of Justice will look into the matter once the review of the Prostitution Act is complete.
The review was due to end late last year but was delayed, reports Breaking News.
A new principal investigator is now being appointed to complete the prostitution review after the department agreed that the previous investigator was unable to complete the study.
When told that one woman targeted by landlords seeking sex-for-rent arrangements in Dublin has had to seek counselling because of her experience, Minister McEntee said: “It is absolutely appalling what has happened to the lady in question. It shouldn’t have happened, and I hope she is doing okay. I wish her the best. We are moving as quickly as we can, and we have a huge amount of work in the zero-tolerance strategy to try and address a number of different issues,” reports Breaking News.
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