Seanad debates
Wednesday, 18 June 2003
European Convention on Human Rights Bill 2001: Second Stage.
The review group's hostility to the incorporation of social rights was so explicit that one is led to believe that, had it been given a choice, it would have eliminated the one undoubted social right, namely, the right to a primary education – from the Constitution because there is no reason that this particular right should be the only one. Why should the right to which I refer not include secondary education? Why should there not be a basic right to shelter or to an adequate income on which to live? Why are those different? Why is my right to own property protected in the Constitution, but not my right to shelter? Why is my right to property superior to my right to shelter? We know the answer to that and it revolves around who owns property and who needs shelter.
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