President Higgins 'overstepped the mark' with housing disaster comments
Jigginstown Manor John Michael Mccarthy Keegan, Dublin With Chairman Colin Collins Akano Tiglin Picture: Resident Higgins President And D Aubrey
A constitutional law expert has said President Michael D Higgins “overstepped the mark” in describing Ireland’s housing situation as a “disaster” and the country’s “great, great, great failure”.
In remarks made during a visit to the Tiglin charity’s facility for homeless youth at Jigginstown Manor in Kildare yesterday, the president made an impassioned speech where he said the outlook was “getting darker” and there had been an increase in homelessness among young people.
“It’s a real challenge, I have taken to speaking ever more frankly in relation to housing because I think it is our great, great, great failure,” he said.
“We have to really think about meeting the basic needs of people in a republic, be that food, shelter and education... Building homes is what’s important. It’s not to be a star performer for the speculative sector internationally or anything else.”
He also criticised the state of accommodation for Travellers, calling it “immoral, wrong, [and] irresponsible” and made a direct appeal to county managers in councils to take action.
Seán Ó Conaill, law lecturer at UCC, said there was a “very strong case” that the president overstepped the mark with his housing comments on Tuesday.
“He has a very limited constitutional role,” he said.
Mr Ó Conaill said predecessors such as Mary Robinson and Mary McAleese were often effective in “subtly getting their point across”, but that President Higgins had “pushed it” more than other presidents with the comments he had made.
On the other hand, it is extremely unlikely members of the Government would openly criticise the president for such remarks, the constitutional law expert said.
David Kenny, associate professor of law at Trinity College Dublin, said while there is no strict constitutional rule that prohibits the president from commenting on issues, there was a long precedent whereby there would be a line between what a president would or would not say.
“What comes through that is a convention, because of the unique role the president has, and the role the president tries to occupy really above the politics of the Houses of the Oireachtas, it’s generally considered that the president wouldn’t weigh in on matters of active political controversy or be seen to criticise government policy and performance,” he said.
Mr Kenny said the functions of the president requires a “very significant degree of political independence in their exercise”, and they have generally refrained from that kind of comment.
“It’s important to say it’s not a strict constitutional rule,” he added.
Responding to the president’s comments, a spokesperson for Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien said the minister “is very aware of the many challenges which exist in housing”, and pointed to targets contained within the Government’s Housing for All plan.
“Increasing supply of all types of housing — social, affordable purchase, cost rental, and private is at the heart of the Housing for All policy,” said the spokesperson.
“We need to get to a point where an average of at least 33,000 homes are being delivered each year, and that’s what the four pathways in Housing for All are focused on.”
The minister’s spokesperson said the positive trends are being seen in housing commencements, completions, and planning permissions, and that the plan contains 18 separate actions to tackle homelessness.
While Tuesday's intervention was made in a forceful manner, this is not the first time the president has referenced the housing crisis publicly.
In 2018, during a speech at the Galway International Arts Festival, the president called for a wider debate about “all the constituent parts of our housing system”.