Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

There will also be extreme-right-wing people who will use it for another political agenda. There will be different groupings. We know them. Many of them are on the political landscape already. They will use this potential referendum to bring about different focuses and different arguments in a politically very cynical way. We need to have our eyes wide open in that regard. People talk about defining housing. I get a bit uncomfortable when the most basic of things have to be explained to people.

The issue here is the need to build consensus. I acknowledge Mr. Stanley, Mr. Elliott, Professor O'Cinneide and Ms Kelly-Desmond for their work and other people who have engaged with us. We have come a long way. Traditionally, we had people with megaphones on the streets talking about rights in the Constitution but with nothing thought out other than the suggestion of tapping into the anger and discontent of the citizen. That is not the responsible way to deal with such matters - end of story. There are different political narratives and political agendas, and we have to be always mindful of that. That is the reality. We know that and acknowledge that.

How, then, do we move forward? It is back to the empowerment of the citizen. I know that no one here is suggesting this, but it would be crazy to suggest that a constitutional referendum would somehow suddenly sort out our ills not necessarily next year but in three years' time. It will not. We need to be clear all along that this is about providing an impetus and focus on the issue. This will ultimately empower the citizens if they agree to the proposal, and I hope they do, and then also empower them to seek to vindicate that right. It has to be as simple as that. It must be another power in the Constitution that is dearly valued and held to and that can be suddenly put up politicians and policymakers, whoever they may be, who are told: "This is now a right in our Constitution." People could maybe poke at them and say: "Remember this, boy? This is what it is about." That in itself would be empowering.

My question is about building the consensus. It should be remembered that the programme for Government, on page 120, under the title "Constitutional Reform", not under housing, states that the Government will hold a referendum on housing. That is all it says. That is a promise, which is fair enough, and I believe that the Government will do that. We know that this Government has two and a half years or, at the very best, three years left in government, so if this referendum is to happen, it will happen before then. That gives us a pretty tight timeline, which allows us to get organising ourselves now, not in six months' time. There may be very different players on 15 December. I am not suggesting there definitely will be. In a few lines, simple messages or take-homes for us, how do the witnesses feel we can partner with them, not lead above them, in building this consensus? They might each give a brief response. We have three minutes.