Aideen Hayden (Labour)

I welcome Dr. Manning. I wish to address a specific issue. Dr. Manning may be aware that the most recent assessment of housing need indicated there were 98,000 households in Ireland in housing need, which does not include households facing repossession. Does Dr. Manning support the inclusion of a right to adequate housing in the Constitution? Within that context, would he see the constitutional convention as an opportunity to examine the inclusion of such a right and for it to be given subsequent legislative effect?

Does he favour including the right not to be discriminated against on the grounds of socio-economic status, in other words, to extend the existing equality legislation to include such a right? As an example, there are now 100,000 households in this country receiving rent supplement. I am aware there is significant discrimination against people receiving rent supplement, purely on the source of that income rather than on their capacity to pay.