Ivana Bacik
Question:23. Deputy Ivana Bacik asked the Taoiseach if he will report on his plans for constitutional amendments. [8210/23]
View answerTuesday, 28 February 2023
Questions (23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
Mary Lou McDonald
Question:24. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Taoiseach if he will report on his plans for constitutional amendments. [9598/23]
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Mick Barry
Question:25. Deputy Mick Barry asked the Taoiseach if he will report on his plans for constitutional amendments. [9875/23]
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Paul McAuliffe
Question:26. Deputy Paul McAuliffe asked the Taoiseach if he will report on his plans for constitutional amendments. [9938/23]
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Richard Boyd Barrett
Question:27. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Taoiseach if he will report on his plans for referendums, including the referendum on housing committed to in the programme for Government. [9960/23]
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Bríd Smith
Question:28. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Taoiseach if he will report on his plans for referendums, including the referendum on housing committed to in the programme for Government. [9964/23]
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Cian O'Callaghan
Question:29. Deputy Cian O'Callaghan asked the Taoiseach if he will report on his plans for constitutional amendments. [10247/23]
View answerOral answers (12 contributions)
I propose to take Questions Nos. 23 to 29, inclusive, together.
Various proposals for constitutional reform are currently under consideration. Some arise from the programme for Government and others from the work of citizens' assemblies, the Joint Committee on Gender Equality, and others such as the EU agreement on a unified patent court that arise from legal requirements. While no final decisions have been made as yet on the timing for the holding of referendums, the Government is keen to progress matters expeditiously and attaches a particular priority to gender equality issues.
Regarding housing specifically, the Housing Commission established in December 2021 will bring forward proposals for the wording of the referendum on housing by July of this year for the Government and the Oireachtas to consider. The recent establishment of the Electoral Commission, which will replace the Referendum Commission, among other things, will help to streamline the conduct of referendums.
I want to ask the Taoiseach about two of the referendums he referred to. First, on the housing referendum, we are anxious to see that take place as soon as possible to enshrine a right to housing in the Constitution. I note the Taoiseach indicated that the wording has not been received but that he expects to receive wording from the Housing Commission by July of this year. That is welcome but we hope to see speedy progress after that.
Turning to the gender equality referendum, this is a topic that is particularly close to my own heart and it is a priority for all who served on the Joint Committee on Gender Equality which looked to take forward the great work of the Citizens' Assembly on Gender Equality. I am delighted to hear the Taoiseach say he is giving priority to that referendum on gender equality. I remind him that our unanimously agreed cross-party report published in December came up with a specific set of wordings for the three changes necessary to give effect to the citizens' assembly recommendations to provide for gender equality in the Constitution, to delete the sexist language relating to women and mothers and replace it with gender neutral language that values and recognises care, and, crucially, to expand the definition of family beyond the marital family. We came up with the wording, which I sent to the Attorney General's office, the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and the Minister with responsibility for equality, Deputy O'Gorman. I ask the Taoiseach to commit to holding that referendum as soon as possible, preferably this year. The committee previously sought for it to be held in 2023. We need the gender equality referendum. It is long overdue and given that we have now come up with a wording that received cross-party support, we ask that the Taoiseach give it particular priority for this year.
I welcome the Taoiseach's response that the referendum on housing is coming. Will he consult the Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage to seek its opinion on the proposed wording? A constitutional right to housing will not guarantee every person in the State a home but it would place an important legal obligation on current and future Governments to progressively realise that right through their policies, laws and budgets. A referendum to enshrine the right to housing in the Constitution will also provide an opportunity for a national conversation about the meaning and place of a home in our society. This conversation must make its way to the child poverty unit to be established in the Department of the Taoiseach. Ultimately, the housing crisis can only be resolved through large-scale public housing provision, proper regulation of the private rental sector and progressive activation of the private sector. Does the Taoiseach believe the referendum on the right to housing could be held before the end of the year?
Local authority water assets and staff were due to be transferred over to Irish Water, Uisce Éireann, on 1 January. It is now 28 February and this has not happened. This is something worthy of public comment, in my opinion. What happened? Water workers across the country rebelled against the framework document which outlined the path to the transfer. The four trade unions that represent water workers have now opposed the document, throwing everything up in the air. Workers will not transfer over until two conditions have been met. The first is that their pay and conditions, up to and including retirement, be guaranteed, whether they transfer over or choose to be redeployed within their local authority instead. The second is that a date be set for a well-worded referendum to keep water in public ownership. When will this referendum happen?
I welcome the announcement today regarding the appointment of a chair of the Citizens' Assembly on Drugs Use. I also welcome the early date of 14 April for its first meeting. While it is very unlikely a constitutional amendment will be required as a result of the Citizens' Assembly on Drugs Use, it will make recommendations. I am conscious that we are midway through the Government's term. Has the Government plotted out where those recommendations might fall in the timeline between now and the end of the Government's term?
Will the Taoiseach be a bit more precise as to when the constitutional referendum on housing will take place and what exactly it will propose? If we have such a referendum, will it be matched by a willingness on the part of the Government to make use of it? One of the purposes of having such a referendum is that we could do things such as introduce rent controls, do something about land hoarding and speculation and protecting tenants rights, all of which the Government is not really willing to do. In fact, most of the time the Government seems to be hell-bent on allowing developers to charge obscene rents and, judging from the earlier conversation we had, promoting the right of developers to put in planning applications for totally unaffordable developments that they often do not build and which actually take up land and labour that could be used to develop public and affordable housing. Will the Taoiseach match the commitment to have a referendum with actually taking measures to challenge the profiteering by corporate landlords, speculators and land hoarders and prioritise instead people's need for affordable housing?
I thank the Deputies for their questions. I will start with the proposed referendum on housing. The first step is for the Housing Commission to present its wording to the Government. That has not happened yet and we expect it will happen no later than July. There will then be consideration by the Government. Deputy Paul Donnelly asked if we will consult the Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage and we will absolutely do that. That will be part of the process of consultation. I anticipate the referendum will happen during the term of office of this Government but I think we need to be realistic about it too. I heard Deputy Boyd Barrett ask if it would allow us to do something about tenants' rights. We have done a great deal on tenants' rights.
It has not stopped them from being evicted.
One will hear stories, which I often hear, of people who have not paid their rent for two years using their rights to stay in situ even though they have not paid the rent for two or three years.
Loads of people who have done nothing wrong are being evicted.
Deputies, please do not interrupt.
There are already a lot of tenants' rights and there will be more. We have the rent pressure zones, compulsory purchase orders and fast-track planning and we have had eviction bans. There has been no constitutional bar on doing any of that. Private property rights in Ireland are subject to the common good so I think the question is misframed. What is it that a housing amendment would allow us to do that we cannot do already? That is a different question because it is very clear we have been able to do all of those things within the existing constitutional framework.
On the referendum on gender equality, I recognise the committee for the very good work that it did. I had a chance to read the report in full in the past few months and I was pleased to see we were given different options for the wording for the referendum. The matter is with the Attorney General at the moment. There has been some engagement with NGOs recently around the best timing for that referendum as well. I want to ensure we are properly prepared for it. It will probably require two amendments, one on equality and another on care. That is probably where it will land but we hope to bottom that out in the next few weeks.
On the referendum on water, we do not have a date for it yet. It is committed to but I want to give everyone reassurance that there are no plans whatsoever to sell off or privatise Irish Water. It is not the policy of any party in this House and in any case it is prevented by legislation.
To respond to Deputy McAuliffe, we anticipate the Citizens' Assembly on Drugs Policy will report by the end of the year, thus allowing us to consider its recommendations in early 2024.