Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for both presentations. While I was not able to be at Ms Leilani Farha’s earlier presentations, I was conscious from the media how she highlighted this issue. Bringing it up to that level of public discourse has been important and crucial. I was able to attend two presentations on this issue by the Mercy Law Resource Centre before, as well as the one today. It has been bringing it to public attention. Reference was made to having a bold and swift action and introducing such a right might break the cycle. There have been many efforts but very little success in terms of addressing the issues. Despite the fact we have a relatively functional economy, we have many of the same problems in housing.

I support the right to housing. The Scottish model is statutory. I would have thought in Ireland it would have to be constitutional because of the provision concerning property rights in the Constitution. At one stage, the Government promised 11 constitutional referendums over the next few years. Hopefully, removing the provision concerning women in the home will be the next one. There will be an opportunity to bring the right to housing into the Constitution. That is what will change practice.

In the Scottish model, the local authorities have the statutory obligation. How would that work in Ireland? Largely speaking, local authorities here do not raise most of their own moneys. Accordingly, there is that interaction between what they get from the Government and what they raise themselves. The question then arises as to how this would be implemented and monitored.

Ms Kerin spoke about progressively realising the right to housing. That may need to be spelled out more fully because there probably is some scepticism in Ireland as to whether anything would happen, were such a provision put into the Constitution. How does one make it happen? Will she elaborate on how this works in other countries?

We need to keep this on the public agenda. While there are financial elements to this, if housing is to be a human right, then it needs to come back to committees which deal with social rights, rather than those which deal with balancing the books.