Forty-first Amendment of the Constitution (Right to Housing) Bill 2026: Second Stage [Private Members]
Dail Éireann — 2026-10-01
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Eoin Ó Broin (SF), Dublin Mid-West

I thank Deputy Hearne for introducing this important legislation and giving us an opportunity to debate it this evening, although I have to say that there is a terrible sense of déjà vu . For 12 years, the Oireachtas and the wider public have been debating the need for a constitutionalised right to housing. In fact, so exercised was the then Government about the matter that, in 2013, it asked the then Convention on the Constitution to deliberate on a number of economic and social rights. The report was published in 2014. Having listened to all of the arguments and carefully considered the pros and cons of the proposition, an astounding 84% of people in that convention voted to urge the Government to enshrine that right in the Constitution, much higher than almost any of the other rights that they considered at that weekend.
It is important to think about the time that this was published. In early 2014, there were officially fewer than 3,000 adults in what was then the Department of environment-funded emergency accommodation. Child homelessness was virtually unheard of. In the 12 years since, not only have we seen the most dramatic increase in adult and child homelessness in the modern history of the State, but rents and house prices have reached levels that are so unaffordable that even people on very good incomes have no reasonable prospect of affording a home. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael's record, despite what the Minister says, in delivering social and affordable housing has been, and continues to be, abysmal. Gross social housing need continues to rise. Local authority council waiting lists continue to grow ever longer. Therefore, if people thought that enshrining the right to housing in the Constitution was necessary in 2014, it is even more necessary 12 years on.
Deputy Boyd Barrett rightly pointed out the fact that this was actually the fourth or fifth debate on a constitutional referendum Bill in the decade that I have been here. He had one, I think Gerry Adams had one, I had one, and others as well. What is really interesting is, separate to these exchanges, we have had very considered deliberation in successive hearings of the Oireachtas housing committee on this matter, where we have not just exchanged political opinions, but we have listened to expert testimony. We have listened to people who have studied what has happened in other jurisdictions, particularly European jurisdictions, when a legal or a constitutional right to housing was introduced, including some people who, as they told our committee, started off their journeys on this matter as sceptics but, having studied the evidence, became absolutely convinced of the need for this.
We know that the 2020 programme for Government had that elusive promise of a referendum on housing. Nobody ever knew what that meant and the Government never clarified it for us, but when Darragh O'Brien, under pressure, eventually published the Housing Commission's report - it was actually given to him in September 2023 and he sat on it for a year, so uncomfortable was he - a Fianna Fáil Senator tabled a motion in the Seanad using exactly the same wording as in this Bill and the Seanad, by a majority - not including Fine Gael, I have to say - voted for it. Only weeks afterwards, our Oireachtas housing committee met and discussed these matters and for the very first time, Fianna Fáil, which had never fully declared a position on this matter, supported those of us among the Opposition on the committee and our committee agreed to write to the Minister, urging him to proceed with the referendum. Yet here we are. with a programme for Government almost two years old, with no commitment on the right and the current Minister giving the same lame, uninformed justifications for not acting.
Let me just for the record tell the Minister why this is a good idea, as that is what this debate is ultimately about. The first reason we should do this is because, under our system of referendum, we know from our experience that we have really valued, profound, statewide public conversations about matters of crucial importance. What more important matter could we discuss as a state and as a population than the role of home in our society? That in itself would be enormously valuable and empowering, but all of the international evidence shows that where that debate then leads to a change in law or, in our case, an enshrinement in the Constitution, it creates a huge expectation among the public for real policy change, policy change that would have a profound impact on people's lives. In turn, that would act as a catalyst for governments to do things above and beyond what they otherwise would do. All of the evidence we have heard in repeated sessions of the Oireachtas housing committee on this matter show that the real value is that catalyst for change that delivers meaningful and tangible results in the quality of people's access to secure, adequate and affordable housing.
There are also a number of other changes. It would remove a set of barriers. The Department of public expenditure and reform and its line Minister are an obstacle to many of the things that the Minister, Deputy Browne, his officials and his predecessors have been trying to do in housing. Anyone who reads Eoghan Murphy's autobiography knows that one of his biggest challenges was his Cabinet colleagues in finance and public expenditure and those Departments. A constitutional right to housing would remove that barrier and would ensure that Departments had to act.
It would also clarify the law, because one of the things that the Government is very good at, and the Minister has done it again today, is hiding behind the Constitution and the unavailable advice of the Attorney General not to do something. We all remember when Alan Kelly - poor old Alan Kelly - was trying to do something good as Minister for housing. He wanted to link rents to the consumer price index, CPI, and Michael Noonan railed against the proposal, saying it was not constitutional. Balderdash. Every single constitutional expert in the country knew that that was not true. How do we know it was balderdash? Only a couple of years later, a Fine Gael Minister, Simon Coveney, introduced an arguably far more draconian form of rent regulation - rent pressure zones - and there were no constitutional problems from the Attorney General at the time. Removing that red herring through clarifying the law would be enormously important.
Crucially, it would also place an obligation on the State to progressively realise people's right to have affordable, secure and adequate housing. While a lot of the debate often focuses on whether it will lead to increased litigation or not - the evidence suggests not so - it would give those people who are most egregiously denied the right to adequate, secure and affordable accommodation some recourse in the courts if the Government simply refused to listen.
If these are all the reasons to do it, you have to ask why this Government is so implacably opposed. I have a slightly different read of it than Deputy Hearne, although not from any significant difference on the legislation. I think that the Government is scared of this because if it became a part of our Constitution, it would have to do things that it was politically not willing to do to address this crisis.
We have always said that this is not a silver bullet and will not resolve the housing crisis overnight, but in order to tackle the ever-deepening housing crisis in our society, we need every single tool in the toolbox. This is one of them. It is not a waste of time, it is not a distraction. It is a valuable tool, one among many others. Of course, the Minister is right, in that enshrining something in the Constitution does not build a single home, but if that was the case, we would not have a Constitution at all. Constitutions have an entirely different function, and that is why this proposition is to be supported.
I know that, unlike his predecessor, the Minister is a considered person. He actually thinks about things, unlike the Deputy from Fingal. I would urge him to just go and read the testimony that the eminent professor of constitutional law from the University College London, Professor Colm O'Cinneide, gave to our committee. As somebody who has been in this debate for a very long time, it was one of the most profound experiences I had. Professor O’Cinneide is the individual who said that when he started researching this, he was a sceptic. He did not believe that this was a necessary or valuable tool in addressing housing need. However, having studied every single country that has legalised or constitutionalised housing, he is now a strong advocate for many of the reasons that I have set out. At some point, the Minister has to start basing policy not on the limited lobby interests that the lobby register discloses have a revolving door to the Custom House and Government Buildings next door, but on people who actually have real experience, people who have real expertise, and Professor O’Cinneide is one of those.
I have no doubt, having been part of this discussion for over a decade, that this is an important, positive and absolutely necessary proposal. That is why I am enthusiastically supporting this Bill and will support any other Bill that seeks to do the same thing. The fact that the Minister is not willing to support it shows once again that he is not serious about tackling the housing crisis despite what he said. He is not willing to do everything that is necessary to ensure people's needs for social, affordable or privately owned homes are met. That is the real reason he is opposing this today.
The Minister is not willing to do everything that is necessary to ensure people's needs for social, affordable or privately owned homes are met. That is the real reason he is opposing this today. It is not because of any flaw in the legislation but because it would expose the flaws in the Government's policy, its failure on housing and the tragic impact that is having on tens of thousands of people across the State.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-10-01/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-10-05T01:01:00+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-10-01