Mr. Wayne Stanley:

I do not believe anything can stop it. If the Oireachtas decides to have a referendum, we will go to the people and we will state our case. When the matter was brought to the Convention on the Constitution, these arguments were all played out. Some very authoritative people on both sides of the argument spoke to the members and there were significant conversations. It was felt that some of the decisions that emerged from that process were far too radical and would never be accepted by the public but they were fully endorsed by the public so I do not believe there is an issue.

To go back to the first question, it seems there is an historical context. When the Constitution was written, food was much more expensive than housing. There was an abundance of housing. We had a very different country and context. For me, part of this process is modernising the Constitution to reflect the world and country we are in now.