Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I amendment No. 2:

To delete all words after “exigencies of the common good” and substitute the following:“reaffirms the conclusion of the All-Party Oireachtas Committee on the Constitution, in its Ninth Progress Report on Private Property, that the power of the Oireachtas to impose restrictions on property rights in the public interest is by now constitutionally well established;

recalls the examples listed by the Committee where the courts have stated that private property rights are far from absolute and that far-reaching interferences with such rights may be justified by reference to the common good;

highlights the decision of the Supreme Court in the matter of the Planning and Development Bill 1999 (2000), in which the Supreme Court held that the Oireachtas is entitled to conclude that the provision of affordable housing, and housing for persons in special categories and of integrated housing, is rationally connected ‘to an objective of sufficient importance to warrant interference with a constitutionally protected right and, given the serious social problems which they are designed to meet, they undoubtedly relate to concerns which, in a free and democratic society, should be regarded as pressing and substantial’;

notes in particular the Committee's conclusion that the recommendations of the Kenny Report on the Price of Building Land would survive constitutional scrutiny;

believes, therefore, that the Constitution of Ireland can no longer be used as a shelter and excuse for inaction by those who, for their own reasons, oppose the necessary reforms to our laws to ensure accessible and decent public and private housing;

concludes that there is no need for a constitutional emergency to give cover to special measures to deal with the housing crisis but, instead, what is needed is a willingness on the part of legislators to use all their available constitutional powers, so as to design and maintain, on a permanent basis, a stable and functioning market that provides a sustainable and affordable supply of public and private housing, for owner-occupier and for tenants; and

calls for a major programme of law reform to:

— make home ownership a realistic goal for many through a permanent reduction in the price of building land, an effective and dissuasive vacant property tax, and a new and affordable housing purchase scheme;

— make rental accommodation both affordable and secure, through a proper system of Consumer Price Index linked rent control, a transformed role for the National Asset Management Agency, long-term security of tenure, and reforms to the deposit retention scheme;

— put the consumer at the heart of a reformed mortgage protection law;

— solve the homelessness crisis by putting local authorities back into the business of building and letting affordable homes, with at least 5,000 constructed each year on top of existing targets; and

— ensure sustainable planning for our future under a revised National Planning Framework and the full use of all powers available to our local authorities to buy, zone, design and build for our future.”

See this speech in context