Ms Rosemary Hennigan:

It is good to be here. I thank Senator Cummins for his question. The first point to make in regard to the definition of "adequate" is that primarily it is for the Oireachtas and policymakers to decide what it means. This constitutional provision would require the State to make that decision and to have that debate in a substantive way. If the State fell short on that, it would be open to an individual to challenge that. At that point, the Judiciary would step in with a form of oversight. This is common across many different rights areas which already exist in our Constitution. We would be coming out of the current housing crisis having learned a lot of lessons the hard way. We want to build on that now by having this constitutional amendment such that the State is committed to investing in housing. Professor Whyte may be able to expand further on that.