Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 5 July 2022

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government

Right to Housing: Discussion

Photo of Paul McAuliffePaul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Cathaoirleach. I thank all our guests for their contributions here and for their work. A majority of members on this committee support a right to housing in the Constitution. That has happened because of campaign groups like those present and in response to effectively ten years of undersupply and dealing with the fallout of that. The Government is committed to a referendum on housing, as has been said, but certainly within this committee and I can say within Fianna Fáil, there is a majority of people who believe in a right to housing.

When explaining it to people, for all of the concerns that are there, I often use the phrase that we are inserting a balancing right to housing because we have extremely strong rights around private property. This gives the Government more options by providing a balancing right to housing. That seems to have been convincing to some. There is always an argument about whether the different Attorneys General are more or less conservative but giving Governments more tools in their toolbox to deal with the issue of housing is something that can be supported. I thank our guests for all that and for the contributions they have made.

There is a job now for the commission. It is going to be really important in presenting the legal cases and particularly in articulating some of the concerns. The wording and the deliberative stuff will happen in this committee. We cannot have a referendum without having a Bill coming though the Houses. That will have to come through these committees, so that will come.

My worry in all this is the red herrings. The majority of people in my constituency voted against the children's rights referendum. That was not because they were opposed to the rights of children but because red herrings, or let us call them concerns, were raised and people gelled with them. We must start voicing some of those concerns and dealing with them in a pre-emptive way rather than waiting for them to happen through a campaign.

We have seen where things arise in a campaign and campaigns are not ready to address them. They can take legs. I am concerned that the issue of racism against the Travelling community could be used in the course of a referendum. That could play into a debate. We have to deal with those kind of issues in advance. In many ways the good work the witnesses have done has got there. Only civil society groups will be able to lead the way on some of those issues and Government and the Ministers, Departments and politicians. We know from the debate around referendums that civil society groups have been important. The fear on this is that people will support it. That would put us in a very weak position. We are actually not prepared for those red herrings that arise. If we go into a referendum thinking it will be passed that leaves us open to the very real possibility that it will not pass. Have the witnesses given any consideration to those type of issues? For example I imagine a campaign to frighten landlords could be successful in spreading not just the concerns people might have about big institutional landlords but also people who might have one house, or family members of people who might have one house. Has any work been done in that space about the red herrings? The ways in which different countries have vindicated this right are fascinating. If we can provide ways to bring those examples into the public mind such as the way it is done in South Africa and elsewhere, that will help play into a debate and prepare the public for what is going to be a more difficult campaign than we expect.

Comments

No comments

Log in or join to post a public comment.