Professor Gerard Whyte:

The following is a slightly technical point but I will keep it brief. If this constitutional referendum is adopted, we will have a right to private property and a right of access to adequate housing. In that scenario the Oireachtas would be required to balance two competing rights, for example, to regulate property rights and the rights of landlords to vindicate the right of access to adequate housing. The Supreme Court indicated a number of years ago that it takes a very deferential approach to any judgment the Oireachtas would make.

It would only be if the Oireachtas struck a balance which was contrary to reason and fairness that the courts would intervene. Again, it gets back to this point that having a Constitutional provision would require the Oireachtas and the executive to address housing issues and housing crises but they retain considerable room for manoeuvre. The courts would only intervene if there were serious or egregious neglect of the rights of somebody to adequate housing.