Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions
Dail Éireann — 2021-06-02
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Paul Murphy (PBP), Dublin South-West

This is another example of the Government's argument, the Constitution says "No". The Taoiseach says that we cannot have a blanket freeze on rents because of the Constitution. He says those are the facts. I do not believe they are.
The Government is hiding behind that argument precisely because it represents developers, but let us concede that those are the facts. Let us accept the idea that the protection of private property in the Constitution means that there are limits beyond which we cannot go in terms of rent controls, an eviction freezes and so on. We concede that. Can I take it then that the Government will support the Thirty-ninth Amendment of the Constitution (Right to Housing) Bill 2020 from People Before Profit on Second Stage tomorrow? This Bill will introduce into the Constitution a right to secure, affordable, dignified housing appropriate to need and, accordingly, delimit the right to private property where that is necessary to ensure the common good. The Bill seeks to remove this excuse and, therefore, say that we can introduce rent controls, rent freezes and a ban on evictions. Will the Government be supporting the right to housing Bill as, for example, the Green Party did in 2017? People Before Profit will be running a major campaign on this issue. The Government will not be able to have it both ways.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2021-06-02/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:49:21+00:00
Sitting date: 2021-06-02