Cabinet to discuss criminalising sex for rent and counselling notes in trials
Offering accommodation in exchange for sex will become a criminal offence under plans to be discussed by Cabinet this Tuesday afternoon.
It follows a commitment in the Programme for Government to criminalise those who seek sex for rent.
Justice Minister Jim O'Callaghan will inform Cabinet of plans to address what has been branded as "highly exploitative behaviour by the introduction of two specific criminal offences".
This includes offering accommodation in exchange for sex and the advertising of accommodation in exchange for sex.
The provisions encompass both tenancies and licence arrangements.
The proposed penalty is a class A fine. This carries a maximum penalty of €5,000.
It is hoped that this will provide "increased protections for vulnerable individuals," as well as a potential deterrent to landlords or property owners currently engaging in such behaviour.
The General Scheme of Criminal Law and Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2025 will also address the use of counselling records in sexual offence trials.
Victims have campaigned for this to be banned. However, the proposed changes from Mr O'Callaghan do not go this far.
Cabinet will hear that laws that allow counselling notes to be used were "designed to strike a balance between two competing rights", including the victim's right to personal privacy and the accused person's right to a fair trial.
Mr O'Callaghan will argue that it has become evident that the section is not operating as intended and that victims feel pressure to waive their right to a disclosure hearing.
Under the new plans, a judicial examination of the counselling records and a subsequent disclosure hearing will automatically take place wherever the accused seeks such records.
The change also seeks to "limit" the occasions when counselling notes can be used, stating they can only be disclosed when there is "a real risk of an unfair trial".
Taoiseach Micheál Martin, meanwhile, will bring the latest report from the National Economic and Social Council, the body tasked with providing him with strategic policy advice. The report is 'Deepening Compact Growth in Ireland'.
The report recommended reviewing development incentives "with a view to providing stronger incentives for brownfield development" and "increasing public investment to unlock land suited for compact growth".
It also calls for more flexible rent controls to support increased supply, as well as urging the Government to continue to seek reductions in the construction costs of apartments as well as houses and increasing investment in cost-rental homes.
Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill and Mary Butler, the Minister for Mental Health, meanwhile, will inform Cabinet that the suicide rate has reduced by a quarter and is now the 11th lowest in the EU, according to the most recent official figures.
Preliminary figures for 2023 record 302 deaths, the lowest preliminary figure for over 20 years.
Between 2000 and 2021, Ireland saw a 28 per cent reduction in the suicide rate, falling from 12.9 per 100,000 in 2000 to 9.2 per 100,000 in 2021.
Cabinet will also be advised that previous self-harm remains the biggest risk factor for suicide, and that National Suicide Research Foundation Self-Harm Registry data highlights that between 2010 and 2023, self-harm rates decreased by 12 per cent.
A strategy to further reduce self-harm and suicide will be completed by the end of the year.
Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe and Public Expenditure Minister Jack Chambers will bring the Annual Programme Report (APR) to Cabinet, which has replaced the annual Stability Programme Update.
Tánaiste Simon Harris will update ministers on the latest developments on trade, including ongoing negotiations between the EU and US, as well as the "accelerated" ratification of the EU-Canada trade deal, known as CETA.
The approach proposed would enable ratification not just of CETA but also of other EU-third country Investment Protection Agreements with similar models of investor-State arbitration schemes, such as Singapore and Chile.
Higher Education Minister James Lawless will inform Cabinet of his intention to sign the European Quantum Pact, a joint declaration by EU science ministers recognising the transformative potential of quantum technologies for Europe's scientific, industrial, and strategic future.
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