Forty-first Amendment of the Constitution (Right to Housing) Bill 2026: Second Stage [Private Members]
Dail Éireann — 2026-10-01
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Michael Moynihan (FF), Cork North-West

I thank Deputy Hearne and all the Deputies who spoke so genuinely and eloquently about housing and the challenges that are facing us. I reaffirm the Government's commitment to tackling the housing crisis. We know that these challenges are having a real impact on people's lives and we remain focused on increasing delivery. Enshrining a right to housing in the Constitution is not necessary to solve this crisis. To hold a referendum on this now would simply create a distraction from the real work of scaling up the supply of new housing. It is simply unrealistic to suggest we can deliver a home for everybody. We cannot create unrealistic expectations.
The Government has shown a clear commitment to tackling the housing crisis in a real and practical way through introducing measures that support the increased delivery of housing. In this regard, supply has increased significantly over recent years. In the five years to the end of June of 2026, more than 156,000 new homes have been delivered. This compares to 87,819 in the previous five-year period and just 29,855 in the five years before that. However, there is still a considerable amount of work to do. Increasing the supply of new homes is critical to alleviating the pressures in the housing market, helping to moderate price growth and ease affordability challenges across the country. We must ensure everybody has a range of housing options available to them, whether they want to buy or rent a house or are in need of social housing.
Delivering Homes, Building Communities seeks to significantly accelerate delivery of new homes by focusing on activating land and creating the optimal environment to encourage housing activity, including regulatory reform, tax incentives and the largest ever capital investment in the history of the State. Some €275 billion has been earmarked for investment in infrastructure over the next ten years through the delivery of the national development plan. The unprecedented level of investment the Government has committed to bringing about will include a significant scaling up in the delivery of housing over the coming years, which will address the needs of the most vulnerable in our communities, make buying and renting homes more affordable and support the development of villages, towns and cities across the country.
Introducing a right to housing in the Constitution will not result in the delivery of a single additional house. Rather, it could create unwanted and unintended consequences that delay the delivery of housing by creating uncertainty in the market and redirecting State resources to addressing lengthy legal challenges for years to come. That is why the Government will not be supporting the Bill.
The Government’s immediate focus and priority continue to be on the delivery of homes as set out in the programme for Government and the Delivering Homes, Building Communities plan. I assure Deputies that I have taken on board the comments raised in the debate. Delivering homes is of huge importance to the Government and we are working and investing huge amounts of time and effort across government to achieve that.

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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