Sir, – I beg to differ with Niall Guinan in relation to his dismissal of the proposal to provide constitutional protection for a right to housing (August 28th).
What is envisaged here is that the judiciary would be given power to review the actions (or inaction) of the other branches of government relating to the provision of housing.
This would not require judges to become experts in housing policy but rather to ensure that decisions of politicians and administrators were reasonable having regard to all of the relevant circumstances.
Experience during the 1990s with this type of judicial oversight in relation to the education of children with severe or profound learning difficulties and in relation to the provision of secure accommodation for vulnerable children shows that it can offer significant protection to marginalised groups against the worst excesses of political neglect. – Yours, etc,
GERRY WHYTE,
Board Member,
Mercy Law
Resource Centre,
Dublin 2.
Sir, – Niall Guinan, responding to Maeve Regan's article ("Why the right to housing should be enshrined in the Irish Constitution", August 25th), relies on a court decision that is 27 years old and a report that is 19 years old when trying to argue why the right to housing should not be given constitutional protection. Fortunately opinion has changed since then. The Convention on the Constitution, in February 2014, recommended by a majority of 85 per cent that economic, social and cultural rights, including housing, be given constitutional protection.
Research from groups including Amnesty International show that in countries that have given protection to these rights, courts are able to strike the correct balance, intervening only as a matter of last resort and when there is a significantly serious breach of someone’s right.
Mr Guinan also omits to mention that any constitutional amendment to include the right to housing would be through referendum, and therefore decided by the people, rather than a covert power-grab by the courts. – Yours, etc,
NICK HENDERSON,
Portobello,
Dublin 8.