Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Unquestionably, the Croí Cónaithe grant scheme is working extremely well. The Deputy would also know that, because it is Exchequer funding, there have to be checks and balances on the payments of grants. I know Sinn Féin might play fast and loose with money from time to time but, in fairness, it is Exchequer funding and we have to be careful with it. The scheme has taken hold. I know it is a grave disappointment to the Deputy. Just go and meet the householders who have benefited from this and the many thousands more who will. We are committed to it and will drive it forward.

To get to the Deputy's question, which he asked in the last three seconds of his contribution, in line with programme for Government commitments, I established the Commission on Housing in December 2021 as an independent body. I commend all the members of the commission on the work they undertook on that to evaluate Ireland's housing system, including issues such as tenure, standards, sustainability, and quality-of-life issues in the provision of housing.

It has the main report to do. At the same time, I tasked the commission to advise the Government on the critical factors to be considered regarding a referendum on housing and, if appropriate, to recommend wording for constitutional change. While this is not a commitment to a referendum on a right to housing per se, it is not precluded from the commission's terms of reference. The commission has submitted its report and recommendations to me regarding a proposed constitutional amendment. The report is comprehensive and, in reaching its conclusions, the commission examined many issues, including the range of complex constitutional questions that would arise. As part of the work, the commission undertook a comprehensive consultation, which I think was very important. It researched international experience, evaluated various proposed wordings and considered other critical factors involved with introducing amendments to the Constitution. I am currently considering the commission's comprehensive analysis and report as well as the next steps in the process, and I expect to bring these to Government in the not-too-distant future. I will come back in a supplementary reply with more detail.

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