In the past hour, the media has been reporting that a 41 year old man with ongoing health problems was confirmed to have been found dead. He was homeless and sleeping in a tent with his partner in Bray over the weekend. This is the third rough sleeper found dead in the past number of weeks. I do not know the exact circumstances of this personal, human tragedy for this man and his family but it cannot be anything other than a shameful stain on this State that yet another person was living in a tent ill and was then found dead by his partner.

This has happened time and again in recent weeks against the background of an absolutely shameful housing and homelessness emergency. I ask the Tánaiste to look urgently at the circumstances surrounding how this could possibly have happened. I must also ask her and her Government colleagues to reconsider the decision of the Government to vote against the Bill which proposes that we insert a right to housing into the Constitution. That vote will be taken in a short while. I simply cannot understand it. I listened with dismay to the Taoiseach yesterday afternoon and afterwards the Minister and the Minister of State explain, or, more correctly, fail to explain why the Government would not listen to the Simon Communities of Ireland, the Peter McVerry Trust, the Children's Rights Alliance and all of the non-governmental organisations dealing on the front line with people who find themselves in these tragic positions. They have stated we should insert a right to housing into the Constitution, but the Government plans to bury that proposal which was supported by 84% at the Constitutional Convention in 2014. It wishes to "further consider" the matter, but people cannot even agree on what committee should consider it. The Government indicates that it should be the finance committee; Deputy Barry Cowen has argued that it should be the housing committee, while Deputy Marc MacSharry has indicated that it should be the justice committee. It sounds to me like they want the issue to be buried in any committee instead of agreeing to the proposal and inserting a right to housing into the Constitution. It is shameful. I ask the Tánaiste to seriously reconsider this decision and send a signal from the Dáil today that human beings living in this State have a right to be housed in dignified, affordable accommodation and not be forced into the tragic circumstances in which so many find themselves.

I do not have the information sought on the individual mentioned by the Deputy, but the thoughts and sympathy of this House go to that person and his family in what are absolutely tragic circumstances, as noted by the Deputy. It is because we believe people have a right to housing that we are taking the range of actions outlined last night in the House by the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, with reference to the Bill. The recommendation from the Government is that the matter should be referred to the finance committee for further discussion on the approach to be taken.

Taking the key point about providing housing for individuals, that is clearly what the Government wants to and is determined to do. It is why the budget is what it is, with billions of euro to be allocated in the next few years. It is why the budget to tackle homelessness has doubled since 2014, rightly so. It will be more than €100 million. The Department and the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, are working very closely with all of the voluntary housing agencies. The vast majority of the recommendations they have made to the Government are being implemented. That is what they will state about the approach taken to dealing with homelessness. They are supplying many of the extra emergency beds which are now available and which will be made available in the next few weeks.

We have also taken the decision to establish family hubs on a short-term basis in order that families and children can be in better accommodation, with more support services to help them than they would have in emergency hotel or hostel accommodation which is seen as a temporary solution until social housing comes on stream. The Deputy knows that there will be more than 21,000 new builds next year, of which, as the Taoiseach stated yesterday, a quarter will be social houses. We will also focus on affordable housing, although clearly that will not happen overnight. We will use every resource we possibly can to meet the housing needs of the people. It is a priority on which the Minister is absolutely focused. Every action that can be taken to help people is being taken. That is why 80 people per day are being given a housing solution to meet unmet housing needs. We must remember that that is happening also.

With every Government announcement and policy change over the past three years, the housing crisis has gotten worse. The number of homeless people and the number of families and children in need of housing have gotten worse rather than better and the tragic deaths of people sleeping rough on the streets continue. Why would a proposal to enshrine the right to housing as a basic human right be referred to the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform and Taoiseach three years after the Constitutional Convention said that it should be put in the Constitution? Perhaps the motive was revealed when I asked the Taoiseach yesterday why the Government is not supporting that proposal and he said he did not believe that everyone should be housed for free. What on earth was the Taoiseach talking about? Who is housed for free in this State? Does that statement not reveal a deep-seated prejudice against people who rely on social housing and would pay their rent but cannot get social housing because the State fails to provide it? Is that the real reason the problem is not being solved?

The Government is focusing on solutions. A range of new initiatives was announced by the Minister, Deputy Murphy, and the Minister of State, Deputy English, including for example, after their meeting with local authority directors. The Government is taking actions that will make a difference.

There is a suggestion that the Private Members' Bill should go to the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform and Taoiseach so that its precise implications can be examined.

It is three years since the Constitutional Convention recommended the right to housing be enshrined in the Constitution.

It is important that the Government invests and ensures that the initiatives it is taking are making a difference for families. That is the focus of the Government and that is what it is doing. There is increasing demand. There is now fast-tracking of planning applications. The builds are increasing and that will continue. We have come from a situation where there was no investment in housing to the stage where this Government, as outlined in Rebuilding Ireland, has committed billions of euro to ensure that the housing needs of people of this country are met now and in the future.