Mary Lou McDonald
Question:16. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Taoiseach if he will report on his plan for constitutional amendments. [32201/23]
View answerWednesday, 12 July 2023
Questions (16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
Cian O'Callaghan
Question:17. Deputy Cian O'Callaghan asked the Taoiseach if he will report on his plan for constitutional amendments. [34035/23]
View answer
Richard Boyd Barrett
Question:18. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Taoiseach if he will report on his plan for constitutional amendments. [34015/23]
View answer
Paul Murphy
Question:19. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Taoiseach if he will report on his plan for constitutional amendments. [34018/23]
View answer
Mick Barry
Question:20. Deputy Mick Barry asked the Taoiseach if he will report on his plans for constitutional amendments. [34045/23]
View answerOral answers (5 contributions)
I propose to take Questions Nos. 16 to 20, inclusive, together.
As I announced in March, the Government intends to hold a referendum in November this year on gender equality, as recommended by the Citizens' Assembly on Gender Equality and the special Oireachtas Joint Committee on Gender Quality. The decision to hold one or more referendums on this issue is in line with the commitment in the programme for Government to respond to the recommendations of the Citizens' Assembly on Gender Equality. An interdepartmental group, led by the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, was established in March and is working on the development of policy recommendations for consideration by the Government and wording for the proposed referendums. There are various other proposals for further constitutional reforms under consideration. However, no final decisions have been made as yet on the timing for the holding of other referendums in respect of them.
Some of these proposed reforms arise from the programme for Government, such as those on housing and extending the franchise in presidential elections to Irish citizens living outside the State, while others, such as that on the EU agreement on the Unified Patent Court, arise from existing legal requirements. The establishment of the Electoral Commission will help to streamline the conduct of referendums and provide independent oversight.
The current programme for Government commits to holding a referendum to extend the franchise in presidential elections to Irish citizens living outside the State. This was raised previously by me and others, and the Taoiseach stated the work is ongoing on presidential voting rights and that reports had been completed. Will he spell out exactly what work has been undertaken by the Government over the past three years on this matter? What are the reports?
I understand significant work is involved in preparing for the practicalities of voting rights, but as things stand and looking from the outside, it looks like no progress has been made in providing for the referendum itself. The Taoiseach has emphasised his support for extending rights to Irish citizens living outside the State. He was very much in favour of these rights during his first term as Taoiseach. On that basis, surely the 2019 Bill restored after the last election should have been moved on by now and the heads of the electoral (amendment) Bill should have been published.
What engagement has the Taoiseach or the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, had with the Electoral Commission on dealing with those in the North or the creation of an international electoral register for Irish citizens and passport holders abroad? What other logistical and practical preparations are under way? Does the Taoiseach still intend to hold a referendum concurrent with the next general election, as suggested earlier this year?
A date needs to be set for the referendums on water and housing. The Government is running out of time.
In the context of a constitutional amendment on the rights of people with disabilities, I raise a specific issue relating to respite services in community healthcare organisation, CHO, 9, which covers north Dublin. Yesterday, I attended a meeting organised by the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, on day services for school leavers in my constituency. One of the issues that came up at the meeting, which is raised with me all the time, concerns the level of respite services available on the northside of Dublin. As the Taoiseach knows, respite services are critical supports for people with disabilities and their families. They are absolutely vital. Data given to me by the HSE show the level of respite services in CHO 9 is approximately 25% less than in other CHO areas, including CHOs 6 and 7. A small increase in funding for respite services in CHO 9, covering Dublin's northside, would fix this. Will the Government provide the funding that is needed to ensure people with disabilities and their families on the northside of Dublin have access to the same level of respite services as are available in other areas?
I, too, want to press the Taoiseach on dates for the referendums on keeping water services and infrastructure in public ownership and on housing, both of which have been promised by the Government. The Government keeps echoing the mantra that housing is its biggest priority. The most severe social crisis facing the country, which it certainly is, is that hundreds of thousands of people, in one way or another, are impacted by this absolutely devastating housing crisis, whether that be by unaffordable house prices, mortgage interest hikes, the lack of public and affordable housing, the lack of rights for tenants or, worst of all, families, children and individuals being driven into and trapped in homelessness. Side by side with those issues, there are huge numbers of empty properties and extortionate rents are being charged that ordinary people cannot afford.
Before the Taoiseach says it, we know a referendum will not change all of that. However, time and again, the Government has cited the Constitution and legal concerns when saying why it cannot do certain things, such as dealing with vacant properties, controlling rents and a number of actions people have proposed that could help to address the crisis. Those legal obstacles need to be removed by making things clear and putting the right to housing into the Constitution. Is the Taoiseach going to do that before there is a general election, as he promised?
Arising from the programme for Government, there are commitments to hold constitutional referendums on the following matters: extending the franchise of presidential elections to Irish citizens living in Northern Ireland and overseas; housing; and Article 41.2 of the Constitution, that is, the referendum on the role of women in the home and gender equality. Consideration is also being given to other possible referendums. In June 2022, the Government reaffirmed its commitment to participate in the unitary patent system and to hold the necessary constitutional referendum to enable Ireland to do so. We are considering holding that referendum concurrent with the local and European elections next year. Under the programme for Government, the issue of the environment, including water and its place in the Constitution, is to be referred to a relevant Oireachtas joint committee for consideration. An amendment to the Constitution to provide for non-religious declarations as an optional alternative may be considered in response to the UN Human Rights Committee recommendations. Other possible referendums for consideration include amendments to the permitted number of Cabinet Ministers under certain circumstances, such as maternity leave, and, in the longer term and in light of the rising population, reforming Article 16.2 to cap the number of Members of Dáil Éireann.
The programme for Government includes a commitment to hold a referendum on the extension of the franchise for presidential elections to Irish citizens living outside the State. This is something I have strongly supported and continue to do so. In light of that commitment, the Thirty-ninth Amendment of the Constitution (Presidential Elections) Bill 2019 was placed on the Dáil Order Paper by the Government in July 2020. The timing of the referendum is yet to be finalised. There is considerable complexity involved, both in registering people to vote in Northern Ireland and overseas and in organising elections in other jurisdictions. However, it is something we should do and we are minded to do it concurrent with the next presidential election in 2025.
Deputy O'Callaghan asked about funding of respite services. There has been a considerable increase in such funding in recent years, with new respite centres opened in almost all community healthcare areas. However, we are running into real difficulty in finding people to staff those centres, given we are now beyond full employment. I am not fully aware of the details of the specific service in north Dublin to which the Deputy referred. If he passes the details on to me, I will bring them to the attention of the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, and we will see what can be done. Generally, the real struggle in providing respite services in the past year or so has been in finding staff, not finding the money to pay them.
Regarding the referendum on housing, we are awaiting a proposed wording from the Housing Commission. I understand the commission is still deliberating on that. When we have the wording, the next step is to consider it. As is always the case with the Constitution, we have to be careful what we put into it. Once something is in the Constitution, it is the courts, and ultimately the Supreme Court, that determine what it means, not those of us elected to serve in this House or in the Seanad. It is important to get the wording right. I agree with Deputy Boyd Barrett that it will not in itself solve the housing crisis, but it could help if it tips the balance in favour of building more homes. For my part, any amendment to the Constitution on housing that does not make it easier to build more homes would not really be one worth supporting. There is no point in giving people the right to take legal action to get compensation if we are not providing a legal right that makes them more likely to get a house. I would like to see wording that actually makes it easier to build more homes in this country. An amendment on those lines would be very helpful.
In the past, the whole idea of property rights being a constitutional barrier to our doing what we want to do has been overstated. First, properties do not have rights; people who own property have rights. However, those rights have always been limited by the common good and they did not prevent us from bringing in things like zoning laws, compulsory purchase orders, property taxes, derelict site levies and rent pressure zones. All of those things have been done and they have not been struck down on constitutional grounds. The idea that the important property rights that exist in the Constitution prevent us from doing things has been overstated in the past.
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