‘Alarming surge’ in women reporting ‘sex-for-rent’ cases in Ireland
A number of young women have told Sky News of receiving “shocking” offers of accommodation in exchange for sex, with international students particularly affected.
As the only English-speaking country in the EU, Ireland is a perennially popular destination for English language students, thought to currently number around 40,000.
They arrive to a country beset by a years-long housing crisis and often respond to adverts in private Facebook groups.
Brazilian Ana Paula Viana came to Dublin in 2022 to study English and complete a master’s degree. Like many students, she scanned listings on Facebook to find accommodation.
Ana, who had worked as a journalist in Brazil, responded to an ad for a single bedroom in the city centre.
“When I asked him for a price he said it wouldn’t be necessary to pay if I slept in his bedroom a few times a week,” she says.
“I felt a bit shocked. I just forgot about it and tried to move forward because I really needed to find a place to live, which is wrong because I would have reported it somewhere.”
The adverts almost never make any mention of sexual requests, but when young women respond, the intentions of the advertiser soon become clear.
This practice of asking for sex in lieu of rent has seen an “alarming surge”, according to the Irish Council for International Students (ICOS).
The organisation recently carried out a survey which showed that one in 20 students had been propositioned in this way.
Laura Harmon, executive director of ICOS, said “urgent legislative action is needed” to address the issue.
Two bills designed to specifically outlaw it fell when the Dail (lower house of the Irish parliament) was dissolved ahead of an election last year.
The new minister for justice, Jim O’Callaghan, has said the government is “seeking to make offering sex for rent a specific criminal offence” and that work is ongoing between his department and the attorney general “on a suitable provision”.
Ana told Sky News the government “definitely” needs to legislate as soon as possible.
“Another problem is with women from Latin America or South America,” she says.
“People in general sexualise us as women. Some men take advantage because we are from Latin America, they think we are dying for any place, or we are poor or something like that.”
Darling says a landlord told her she could share his bed ‘because he is single’
Darling Duran is from Bolivia and also came to Ireland to study English. She responded to an online ad for a one-bed apartment, available at €700 (£578) per month.
When the landlord replied, she says he told her “he was working at night so the bed is free, so I can stay in his room. He told me because he was working the bed is free, so I would stay in his bed, but sometimes he would be there”.
The advertiser, who Darling believed to be from a European country, told her that “he had no problem to share the bed with me because he is single”.
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After Darling refused, the man tried repeatedly to ask her on a date.
“I don’t think it’s funny,” Darling says. “In that moment I was very uncomfortable, and I was thinking that nobody deserves to go through this kind of situation.”
With average rents in Dublin around €2,500 (£2,064), up 4% on last year, and a shortage of rental properties, international students will continue to turn to social media to source accommodation.
Until specific legislation is introduced, it’s feared they will continue to encounter those who see sexual opportunity in the midst of Ireland’s chronic housing crisis.
Banned from Eurovision after its invasion of Ukraine, Russia will hold a rival international song contest on Saturday, with an emphasis on “traditional values”.
Instead of camp, think conservative – patriotic pop with a PG-rating.
“Intervision” was launched under the order of Vladimir Putin, with the hope it would serve as an expression of Moscow’s international pulling power.
Intervision decorations in Red Square, Moscow, ahead of the contest
There are contestants from 23 countries, which are a mixture of Russia’s allies old and new, including Belarus, Cuba and Tajikistan as well as China, India and Saudi Arabia.
The odd one out is the United States, who’ll be represented by an artist called “Vassy”. She’s not part of an official delegation, but an American voice is still a coup for the Kremlin, which will seek to use this contest as proof of the West’s failure to isolate Russia on the global stage.
‘War whitewash’
Intervision is not entirely new. It was originally launched in the 1960s as an instrument of Soviet soft power, before largely fading from view in the 1980s.
According to Moscow, its revival has nothing to do with politics. But Ukraine has condemned it as propaganda, and an attempt to whitewash Russia’s war.
It was a point I put to some contestants after their final press conferences, but it didn’t go down well.
“We don’t think like that, we are here to spread peace,” India’s Rauhan Malik told me, when I asked if his participation was a show of support for Russia’s invasion.
Malik, one of the contestants
“Are you not turning a blind eye to Russia’s aggression?” I countered.
“I have no idea about it,” he said. “I have no idea about the current situation that’s happening. I don’t want to speak about that as well.”
Eurovision legends Abba would almost certainly not make the Russian contest guest list. Pic: AP
Really? He had no idea? But before I could go on, I felt a forceful hand on my shoulder and a minder stepped in.
The intervention was even quicker when it came to speaking to Brazil’s act. As soon as I mentioned the word Ukraine, I was drowned out by shouts of “no, no, no, no” and the duo were ushered away.
Brazilian contestants, duo Luciano Calazans and Thais Nader
Where’s the glitter?
Intervision is not just a reaction to Russia’s recent exclusion from Eurosivion, however, it’s also a reaction to the contest’s values and what it’s come to represent.
Its celebration of sexual diversity and LGBTQ+ rights are seen as a symbol of what the Kremlin calls the West’s moral decline. In contrast, Intervision organisers say their contest will promote “traditional, family values.”
Judging by the costumes on show ahead of last week’s draw, that translates to less glitter, more embroidery, with a thematic emphasis on national heritage.
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So what do Russians think of Intervision’s resurrection? Can it replace Eurovision?
“We don’t miss Eurovision,” Galina and Tatiana say, underneath a collection of purple and pink ‘Intervision’ flags near Red Square.
“It was so horrible, especially lately. We didn’t like watching it at all.”
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Why are countries boycotting Eurovision?
Polina agrees, believing Russia’s version will be “more interesting”.
“Many countries that participated in Eurovision want to boycott it, so it’s interesting to see a more peaceful event now,” she says.
Igor is more circumspect. “I’d like to believe that this isn’t a political event,” he says, “but rather an event that unites nations and people.”
Intervision will succeed in uniting some nations. But at the same time, it may only deepen divisions with others – further evidence that Russia and the West are singing very different tunes.
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