Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 5 July 2022

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government

Right to Housing: Discussion

Ms Aoife Kelly-Desmond:

It was a mixture of Private Members' and other Bills. It is quite a comprehensive report into the particular concerns that were raised. As I said, there are some views from a constitutional perspective that a number of those concerns could have been overcome if we looked at the matter from the perspective of the common good. In any event, it is something that comes up again and again. As Mr. Elliott said, if we put that counterbalancing right into the Constitution, it does not take away from private property rights. It does, however, create a space for policymakers to say we have one right here and another right here - what is the appropriate balance to strike? Right now, we have a right here and a very vague concept of the common good on the other side that people are less comfortable engaging with. That is one particular context in which we see it having a practical impact.

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