A new commission is to examine wording for a future referendum on the right to housing, Housing Minister Darragh O'Brien says.
He was speaking as the Housing Commission met for the first time on Wednesday.
The group is independent of the Department of Housing and is to report its findings by July 2023.
It will examine long-term housing policy, beyond 2030, and report to Government on how to build on policy changes committed to under the Housing for All plan.
Minister O'Brien told The Hard Shoulder this is a wide-ranging group.
"It's to take a longer trans-government view on housing and what housing should be like in Ireland.
"This isn't instead of the work we're doing it's on top of the work we're doing.
"We've 12 different commissioners who met today, it'll be chaired by John O'Connor - who's the recently retired chief executive of the Housing Agency.
"It draws from a wide range of people from different sectors within housing."
He says its terms of reference include examining housing supply, cost and quality, the private rental market and "very importantly" the issue of a referendum on the right to housing.
Minister O'Brien says the referendum is a commitment he wants to see through.
"It's something that's been talked about for a long number of years.
"I think the commission - and I know they will do a specific piece of work on that - to report back to me with the wording, what we need to do there and how we can get ahead and implement it".
And he says the group should be proactive to issues.
"I think it's a very significant step forward and it will give us that sense that this group are going to be able to look at housing in the round, and not just be responding to the issues that we have on any given day".
