Alan Kelly
Question:1. Deputy Alan Kelly asked the Taoiseach his plans to hold referendums in 2020 and 2021. [18559/20]
View answerWednesday, 9 September 2020
Questions (1)
Oral answers (9 contributions)
Under the programme for Government, the Government is committed to holding constitutional referenda on the following matters: extending the franchise at presidential elections to Irish citizens living outside the State; housing; and Article 41.2 of the Constitution, concerning women in the home.
In addition, the programme for Government also commits to refer the issue of environment, including water, and its place in the Constitution, to a relevant joint Oireachtas committee for consideration.
A citizen's assembly on gender equality was approved by Dáil Éireann on 9 July and Seanad Éireann on 11 July 2019. Ms Catherine Day was appointed chair of the assembly and the inaugural meeting was held on 25 January 2020. It operates independently of the Government and it will report directly to the Houses of the Oireachtas.
Before any referendum would be scheduled, the relevant legislation would have to be passed and, in light of Covid-19, all public health requirements taken into consideration.
I thank the Taoiseach. We are aware of what the Taoiseach has committed to and what is on the schedule. We are also aware of the Covid situation.
I will focus on the referendum on housing. The Taoiseach has listed what he intends to do and what is proposed in the programme for Government but I want to get more detail on projections and timelines for where the Government is going on the referendum on housing. We know of the increase in homeless figures and that the ban on evictions is gone. Rent will be a big issue coming down the line as rent debt crystallises for many people across the State. Will the Taoiseach provide details on what his thinking here is regarding timelines for the referendum? It is particularly important.
The Sunday Business Post reported in April that there would be a referendum to cap land prices. This is something the Labour Party has advocated for decades. Interestingly, the framework document from Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael stated that "through bold action, we will tackle land costs". Has that been scrapped? Deputy Barry Cowen, who was one of the negotiators, in fairness to him, was quoted as saying that a referendum to curtail the price of land for housing would have to be held as soon as possible. This was given the electorate's clear desire for that. There is no mention of that in the programme for Government. Why did it disappear? We all talk about the Kenny report. Why did that commitment from Fianna Fáil from the framework document disappear from the programme for Government? Will the Taoiseach outline in detail what he is proposing as regards a referendum on the right to housing? What is the Government's position in relation to a referendum or changes in relation to land prices, land costs and the implementation of the Kenny report? I think this has gotten to a position, politically, where a majority - particularly in opposition - want to see this happen. Deputy Martin, before he became Taoiseach, went a long distance towards supporting that but his thinking on it seems to have changed and been sullied since he entered Government.
I would like the Taoiseach to clarify the nature of the referendum on housing. Will the Taoiseach clarify that it is a referendum on the right to housing? That matter was clouded and fudged by the Government. It is fair to say that the record of this Government and the previous Government that the Taoiseach was part of through confidence and supply has been nothing short of disastrous. It has left an entire generation locked out of home ownership and many people struggling with exorbitant, outrageous levels of rent. There has been no plan for really affordable accommodation and that remains the case, despite the huffing and puffing of the new Minister.
I wish to ask the Taoiseach about the proposed referendum on voting rights in presidential elections. This matter was voted on in 2013, that is, seven years ago, at the Constitutional Convention. It was 78% in favour of the extension of that right to vote. Yet we still have no date for the referendum. Will the Taoiseach set out a timetable for when this proposition will be brought forward, the legislation published and the date for the referendum?
We need a referendum on the right to housing. I submitted a Bill to that effect, looking to change Article 43 of the Constitution to delimit the rights of private property in order to vindicate the right to affordable, dignified and appropriate housing for all in the last couple of weeks. The Taoiseach should support that Bill and fast-track the move towards a referendum.
The scandal of land hoarding and sitting on empty buildings was an outrage prior to Covid but now it is absolutely unjustifiable. I will give an example of why this is important. I met a woman who I would say was in her 80s on South Great George's Street. This was during the height of the lockdown. She pulled me aside and said she wanted me to walk up Aungier Street and look at a block on that street to see the disgrace of a line of buildings sitting empty for a decade at least that could be used to house people in the south inner city where there is desperate overcrowding and many people on housing lists.
I met a social worker who works in that area on the street on the way in today and he told me there has been a Covid-19 outbreak there today. He pointed out that his community centre, where social distancing was possible, will close down because property developers want to develop the site. The problem is evident in that little microcosm. Private property ownership by landlords, developers or speculators is preventing the development of sites that could be used for housing in an area where there is chronic overcrowding in the social housing sector and where there is a lack of social housing. That property should just be taken by the State to provide the housing people need in the area. Instead, it is sitting there taunting people who are now suffering Covid-19 outbreaks. What are they supposed to do if they are in overcrowded housing where two or three generations - as is happening all over the place - are living cheek by jowl? How do they socially distance or self-isolate where there is Covid-19? We need aggressive action and the Constitution needs to be amended to say that private property rights cannot trump the need for immediate action to take property, refurbish it and provide housing for people who need it so they do not have to live in overcrowded, dangerous and unhealthy conditions.
Immediate action is needed in housing to get more people housed, to get more houses built and, particularly, to get homelessness numbers down. Covid-19 is having an impact and we should be clear that it will have an impact on the timing of referendums. It has also had an impact in the early part of this year on house completions nationally because of the lockdown and so on. That said, in the July stimulus programme, for example, we provided additional resources to get 2,500 voids repaired to get them back into operation for people on the waiting lists. That is an example of the type of proactive and quick measures that are designed to get things moving in housing. We believe we need an affordable housing scheme to enable people who have a genuine aspiration to buy a house to be in a position to do so, and that is being worked on in detail by the Minister. He is working actively on the homeless issue and is in constant contact with all of the non-Government agencies and organisations that work so hard and diligently on the homeless issue. That work will continue.
The Government is pursuing a constitutional referendum on housing but greater detail and consideration are needed for such a proposal before it can be put to the electorate and specific timelines outlined but the programme for Government commits to holding a referendum on housing.
On land prices, a number of measures can be taken, short of a constitutional referendum in the first instance, to penalise land hoarding and to make it-----
I brought in the legislation.
Yes, but the Deputy did not bring in any proposals for a referendum on housing. By the way, we are committed to holding a referendum.
The Bill is here.
There are Bills everywhere. There is an ongoing debate on whether we can get things done through legislation and various taxation measures to reduce the incentive to hoard land, to create a punitive environment for the hoarding of land and to reduce the acceleration of land prices. That is the objective of Government. The programme for Government is the outcome of negotiations between three political parties, which is clear in its commitments. We are committed to dealing with the land cost issue and the Land Development Agency legislation is under consideration by the Government with a view to publication later in the year.
I also want to respond to the issue of a referendum on presidential voting rights for those living outside the State. The Government recently restored the Thirty-Ninth Amendment of the Constitution (Presidential Elections) Bill to the Order Paper. The date for holding a referendum will be decided once that legislation is approved by the Oireachtas. As I said earlier, the public health implications of Covid-19 may impact on the timelines for such a referendum. The Deputy is correct that the fifth report of the Convention on the Constitution supports an extension of the right to vote at presidential elections to citizens resident outside of the State, including citizens resident in Northern Ireland, and it recommended that a referendum be held to amend the Constitution to provide for that extended franchise. The programme for Government agrees with that. As the Deputy will be aware, there was the publication of an options paper in 2017, which was comprehensive and set out a broad range of options for the extension of voting rights, international comparisons, the estimated costs involved, related resource issues and many of the legal policy, administrative and logistic challenges associated with extending voting rights to Irish citizens resident outside of the State.
A referendum commission was established by order of the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government in September 2019 to inform the electorate about the subject matter of the Bill, subject to it passing through both Houses of the Oireachtas. The Deputy will be familiar with the Bill. It provides for the replacement of Articles 12.2.2° and 12.3.3° of the Constitution as well as for the insertion of a new Article 12A in the Constitution. Those amendments would extend the right to vote for the office of President to all citizens, not solely to those who are ordinarily resident in the State, as is currently the case, for elections held on or after January 2025, which is the beginning of the year in which the next scheduled election for the office of President falls due.