Ms Aoife Kelly-Desmond:

The term "adequate housing" was very carefully chosen after a lot of deliberation because there has to be balance with a constitutional provision. It cannot be too granular or detailed but it also has to get across the substance of what is intended. The phrase "adequate housing" comes from the international context. Professor O'Cinneide has already touched on this and he is extremely familiar with this area. The phrase comes from the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. There has been a lot of discourse at international level about what it could mean and what elements it could include, such as things like security of tenure, affordability, accessibility and those various criteria. The most important thing about the term "adequate housing" is that it allows space for the organs of the State to determine, at a particular time and in a particular context, what "adequate" means for society at that time. It would make this a living provision that can continue to evolve as time goes on. It provides a framework for how the State must consider this but it leaves the actual detail of it up to the organs of the State to decide at a particular time.