Day after day, immigrants arrive in Ireland to take up new jobs, begin studies in a new college, and start an adventure with new friends.
Central to all of that is finding somewhere to live – a new home, away from the one they left behind, in search of a better life.
One young Italian professional woman says that trying to find a room in Dublin “is like falling in a dangerous hell” after her experience.
In the past few weeks, she received offers that hinted at sex being required when replying to three separate advertisements online.
In one, the prospective landlord told her he wanted photos of her and her future housemates before giving them an appointment to view the property. He also said he only wanted females to move in and was “looking for fun to cover rent”.
Another advertiser told her he wanted someone who would share a bed with him in a property he was hoping to secure, because he wanted to half the rent for the room. When she refused the offer, he texted her to ask if she would like to be his girlfriend.
The third advertiser replied to her query telling her that a room and himself “came together” for €200 per month.
“What if there is someone more desperate than me and would accept it because of no other choice?” she said, adding that there are more people looking for rooms in Dublin than the number of rooms available.
The woman believes foreign nationals are targeted with sex-for-rent offers because they are seen as vulnerable.
“If we come here, it is because maybe the situation in our own nation is not so good so they think we are desperate. We are looking for a better future for ourselves. We are at the start point so we are more fragile, we don’t really know people.”
On Thursday, Justice Minister Helen McEntee told the Dáil that sex-for-rent practices are currently not illegal but said that the Justice and Housing departments are now working together to address the issue, with advice from the Attorney General, Paul Gallagher.
Ms. McEntee told the Dáil, “It is not a criminal offense, I would like to see it as a criminal offense. It is appalling behavior. It is the worst type of preying on victims and we need to make sure that we stamp it out.”
She was responding to the chairman of the Oireachtas Committee on housing, local government, and heritage, Steven Matthews, who said sex-for-rent practices were “morally reprehensible” and said they may not even be legitimate tenancies.
Social Democrats housing spokesman Cian O’Callaghan, is a member of the same committee.
He said it is particularly worrying that a number of migrant women have been targeted as they don’t have networks here to support them, as Irish people would have.
He said: “They would have less of an ability perhaps to get support, to get advice. This really needs a very fast response from the government.”
His party colleague, Limerick councilor Elisa O’Donovan, said she was not surprised to hear about this behavior, given that she was subjected to a similar treatment a number of years ago.
“When I was seeking accommodation when I moved home to Limerick in 2014 I was inappropriately propositioned and contacted by landlords after viewing properties,” Ms. O’Donovan said.
She said the ongoing housing crisis meant people are desperate for accommodation.
Recent research by UK housing and homeless charity Shelter shows that the problem is by no means unique to Ireland. That research suggested that 30,000 women in Britain were propositioned with sex-for-rent arrangements between March 2020 and January 2021. There has been no such survey carried out in Ireland.
News courtesy: Irish examiner