Government called on to make sex-for-rent a criminal offence when Dáil returns 

"It is indicative of a Government who time and again has been very very slow to move to protect renters. We have a crisis in the private rental sector like we have never seen before," he said.

Mr Ó Broin said it is almost two years since Irish Examiner journalist Ann Murphy revealed a "dark underbelly of the private rental sector" where landlords were seeking sex in lieu of rent.

"At the time it appeared that the small number of landlords that were doing this were not just targeting women but women who were born in other countries and might be perceived as more vulnerable, supseptible or not aware of their rights and entitlements."

Mr Ó Broin is now calling on the Government to adopt proposals he has published that would make it an offence for a landlord to seek sex in lieu of rent, or for a landlord to advertise such arrangements.

“The bill I am publishing today is an amendment to the Residential Tenancies Act.

"This is a very short addition to Section 19 of the act, if the Government wants to amend it, we have no problem with that whatsoever, so I see no reason why it couldn't be done between September and October.

"Keep in mind, at the end of every legislative session the Government brings forward rafts of amendments which they push through the House in a matter of days."

Mr Ó Broin said it did not matter whose name was on the bill and Sinn Féin would be happy to support Government legislation as long as the issue was addressed.

"It is unacceptable that vulnerable tenants would be exposed to this kind of abhorrent behaviour," he said.