Mr. Michael O'Flynn:

I welcome the opportunity to present at today's session. I would have liked to have attended in person but, unfortunately, the notice was short and I could not move a prior commitment in Cork. As the Cathaoirleach said in his introduction, I am the chairman and CEO of the O'Flynn Group, which has been in the development business since 1978. Housing development has been a major portion of our business, and since that time we have delivered circa 15,000 houses in a number of locations. We are currently developing residential on five sites in Cork and two in greater Dublin. Like my fellow commissioner, Ronan Lyons, I served on the Housing Commission from its establishment in late 2021 until its dissolution in mid-2024. I contributed across its terms of reference and I acted as chair of the supply working group.

On the issue of the constitutional referendum, I had an open mind. When the appointed subcommittee first presented its draft report, I had a lot of serious questions. At no point did I receive any satisfactory answers. As the commitment given on accepting my appointment to the commission required me to act independently and objectively, I was unable to support the majority report. With Ronan Lyons as chair, I participated in the subcommittee which prepared the minority report.

Dr. Lyons has already outlined in some detail the core issues which led to the minority report so I will not repeat those other than to say that, in my opinion, an amendment to the Constitution is not necessary. The reason some people are denied housing is not that the State does not recognise their right to housing; it is that there are simply not enough houses being built, for many reasons, which I am happy to discuss in this forum if convenient.

Granting of individual rights to housing does nothing towards generating enough housing to accommodate all who are in need of housing. The only way the right of every citizen to housing can truly be vindicated is to create enough houses and a properly functioning housing system.

The proposed amendment in the majority report is not appropriate as it grants rights to individuals. When there are not enough houses, a serious consequence of that is that the individuals or groups of individuals who litigate will be given preference for available housing over those who do not litigate, or the State will end up paying money to those whom we cannot house. It makes far more sense that this money would be invested in putting in place the infrastructure and housing this country so badly needs.

The minority report which Dr. Lyons and I produced and which was also supported, as Dr. Lyons said, by another commissioner colleague, Dermot O'Leary, on the other hand, compels the Government of the day to adopt and implement policies that will actually fix our broken housing system.

Some would say including the right in Article 45 is a cop out because that article refers only to directive principles of social justice and is not actionable, that is, it is not possible to sue the State to enforce those principles. However, the minority report proposes a sting in the provision to be included in Article 45 to make the Government’s progress in addressing housing reviewable by the courts. That is really important. The majority report relies on international experience to say the courts will not enforce individual rights unless there has been a persistent and systemic failure on the part of Government. However, this view does not take account of the fact the wording of the laws examined in other states is very different from the wording proposed in the majority report and in some cases it is closer to the wording proposed in the minority report. It is disingenuous to create legal rights to something that for many does not exist and it is wasteful and irresponsible to spend significant money on a constitutional referendum both reports acknowledge is not necessary. The only reason given for the amendment in the majority report is that its authors say our elected representatives are hiding behind an alleged barrier in the Constitution to avoid introducing laws that might impact on property rights because they do not want to do what is required. The authors say elected representatives are not capable of understanding or not sufficiently committed to putting the housing system right and that the only way they can be compelled to do it is by putting individual rights in the Constitution. I do not accept that is the position of the people elected to Dail Éireann and have no doubt members may have something to say about this.

The minority report says a far better option is to provide elected representatives with the legal assurances that they can introduce laws that are proportionate and fair and to require the State to address the housing problem progressively and to have that progress reviewable by the courts. The law is not broken. Our housing targets have been too low for a number of years and because of this our zoning, infrastructure delivery and planning system are all out of sequence. Basically, our housing system is broken. Elected representatives need to fix what is broken and not divert attention from the real problem with a so-called fix that will give rise to false hope and expectation and lead to other risks and costs. Both the majority and minority reports agree there is no certainty around how the courts will interpret the wording proposed in the majority report. At a time when hundreds of thousands of our citizens are in need of housing, it is irresponsible to introduce more uncertainty than already exists.

It was rather unfortunate that a vote was taken on the majority report at a time when some commissioners were not satisfied that the full information had been provided to all commissioners. The urgency to finalise the report was not apparent. It would have been preferable if both arguments and both options had been outlined in full to all members of the commission before the vote was taken. The record will show I have dedicated much of my time over the past decade advocating for policies which would make housing affordable and accessible to all. Having worked across the entire commission and chaired the supply work group I can see that with appropriate policies and strong leadership we can make a meaningful impact on reducing the housing deficit in Ireland. This, and only this, will truly vindicate the right of our citizens to adequate housing. I thank the Chair and the members.