Varadkar says existing laws “sufficient” to stop sex for rent

“What I’d actually like to see is prosecutions; I spoke to the Attorney General about this only in the past week or so and to Minister McEntee and the advice that I have from the Attorney General is that this is already an offence – to seek or receive money or another consideration like rent for example (for sex), is already illegal in Ireland,” he said.

“Just for clarity, we could strengthen the law by specifying that rent is one of the things it could be in return for any consideration, to use the legal term, but I don’t think what will really change things is a more specific law,” he told the Irish Examiner.

He said what will really “change things” is prosecutions.

“I would encourage people to come forward to give the evidence and their story to the gardaí, and I’d like to see the gardaí and the DPP bring forward prosecutions.”

While Varadkar said he doesn’t know how many reports on the matter have been made to the gardaí, he said that if specifying rent in the reports to gardai led to more prosecutions, he is “all up for that”.

“I don’t know how prevalent it is but no matter how prevalent it is it’s still appalling and it’s really deplorable people trying to take advantage of vulnerable people.”

Sinn Féin’s bill will be introduced in the Dáil after it’s summer recess, and will come 18 months after the Ban on Sex for Rent Bill 2022 was introduced by Social Democrats TD Cian O’Callaghan.

Despite all-party support, the initial Bill was halted at the committee level.

O’Callaghan said that the legislation had been effectively “killed off” at a committee level.

“This is often what happens to pieces of legislation that the government doesn’t necessarily want to oppose but then they don’t work to get it progressed,” he said.