Article 31 of the European Social Charter

QUESTION

To ask the Minister for Housing; Planning and Local Government the reason Ireland has not signed up to Article 31 of the European Social Charter; the work being undertaken to ensure that ratification of this article is being progressed; and when Ireland will be in a position to ratify the article.

REPLY

Ireland ratified the Revised European Social Charter on 4 November 2000. At that time Ireland accepted 92 of the 98 paragraphs of the Revised Charter. Three of those paragraphs not accepted by Ireland make up Article 31, which relates to the right to housing.

The issue of the right to housing was debated in Dáil Eireann and Seanad Éireann in September 2017.  Arising from this, a motion to refer the Eighth Report of the Convention on the Constitution, which dealt with economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to housing, to the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach was passed by the Dáil on 28 September 2017 and by the Seanad on 11 October 2017.

The matter of ratifying Article 31 of the Revised European Social Charter will be considered further after the Joint Committee has considered the matter