Rory Hearne (Dublin North-West, Social Democrats)
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Tairgim: “Go gceadófar go dtabharfar isteach Bille dá ngairtear Acht chun an Bunreacht a leasú.”

I move: “That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to amend the Constitution.”

This is my first Bill to be brought forward in Dáil Éireann. The Forty-first Amendment of the Constitution (Right to Housing) Bill 2026 seeks to put a right to housing into Bunreacht na hÉireann. The housing crisis is the most serious issue facing our country. It is an emergency and a social catastrophe. The most shameful thing is that it is the Government's policies that have created this crisis. I refer, for example, to the way it has turned housing into an investment asset and failed over and over to treat it as a human right. Housing is a human right. Is ceart daonna í an tithíocht. A home is a fundamental need and a fundamental right, yet not once in policy, in our laws or in our Constitution is housing described or treated as a human right. The fundamental change in housing that is so urgently needed will be achieved when we fundamentally change how the Government and the State treat and deliver housing. It needs to be delivered and treated as a human right.

Is é seo mo chéad Bhille i nDáil Éireann. Is í aidhm an Bhille um an Aonú Leasú is Daichead ar an mBunreacht (Ceart chun Tithíochta), 2026 ná cearta tithíochta a chur i mBunreacht na hÉireann. Is í seo an cheist is tromchúisí inár dtír. Is éigeandáil agus tubaiste sóisialta é. Is riachtanas bunúsach é teach, agus is ceart bunúsach daonna é, ach fós ní chuirtear síos air ná ní dhéantar é a chóireáil mar cheart daonna uair amháin inár mbeartais, inár ndlíthe ná inár mBunreacht. Bainfear amach an t-athrú bunúsach i dtithíocht nuair a athróimid go bunúsach an chaoi a gcaitheann an Rialtas agus an Stát le tithíocht agus í a sheachadadh; is é sin í a chóireáil go cinnte agus í sheachadadh mar cheart daonna.

Hundreds of thousands of people in Ireland lack a secure, affordable home. A safe, secure home at a decent standard is central to our very existence, our physical health and our psychological well-being. It is necessary to facilitate child development and full citizen participation in society and the economy. A home is central to the dignity of each and every person and is the foundation of every person's life. It provides the secure base from which to carry out all of life's functions.

The impact of housing is most clearly visible in the devastating physical and mental health impacts of homelessness on children in particular. Hundreds of thousands of people in Ireland do not have access to the right to housing and do not have access to adequate housing. I refer to renters living in insecure housing who are paying rents that leave them in poverty, to younger generations living in overcrowded accommodation who are unable to leave the family home because of a lack of affordable housing, and to those who are homeless. Homelessness is described by the United Nations as "the most egregious violation of the right to housing", yet homelessness in Ireland has become normalised. It has become an entrenched social problem whereby children are left homeless for years in emergency accommodation. Over 2,500 children have spent more than one year in emergency accommodation.

Many European countries, such as Finland, Belgium, Portugal and Sweden, include the right to housing in their constitutions. The Constitution is the ultimate repository of our national values. Indeed, there is no legal right to housing in Irish law, in our legislation or currently in the Constitution. The Housing Commission was given the job by the previous Fianna Fáil-Fine Gael Government to develop recommendations in relation to a referendum on the right to housing. It brought forward a proposal two years ago and recommended in its report that a right to housing should be inserted in our Constitution. What I have done with this Bill is bring forward its recommendation to amend Article 40 to insert in the Constitution a very clear right to housing. The new Article 40A of our Constitution would provide that the State recognises that having a home is of fundamental importance to quality of life and that access to adequate housing by facilitating the development of family, social and community relationships promotes the common good. The second part of the proposed new article provides that "the State therefore guarantees to every Citizen a right of access to adequate housing and pledges, as far as practicable, by its laws, to protect and vindicate that right." Inserting that right into our Constitution would provide a clear obligation on the State to deliver housing.

Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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Is the Bill being opposed?

Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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Déanaim comhghairdeas leis an Teachta Hearne as a chéad Bhille. The Bill is not opposed.

Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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I ask the Deputy to move that Second Stage be taken in Private Members' time.

Rory Hearne (Dublin North-West, Social Democrats)
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Tairgim: "Go dtógfar an Bille in am Comhaltaí Príobháideacha."

I move: "That the Bill be taken in Private Members' time."