Sinn Féin is backing a proposal to hold a referendum to make housing a constitutional right in Ireland.
Politicians have been discussing the proposal to make access to housing a right, while campaigners believe voters could head to the polls within a year on the issue.
Sinn Féin has described the current housing crisis as a “tragedy” which needs to be resolved.
“The housing crisis is not just in relation to unfortunately people who are sleeping in the streets or in shelters or emergency accommodation,” Sinn Féin TD Thomas Gould said.
You have families, three generations of families in the one house, people sleeping on couches
“You have families, three generations of families in the one house, people sleeping on couches.
“You have families who have broken up with the mother and the kids in one house and the father maybe on his own or with some with kids in his parents’ house, and it’s a tragedy at the moment that needs to be resolved.”
Fianna Fáil TD Jennifer Murnane O'Connor said immediate action is needed.
She said there are “people coming to us with families, I’ve single people coming to me, we’ve no single housing, so I believe that this needs to happen, I think we can’t leave it any longer."
