Radical changes in the planning laws, including moves to stop property developers leaving landbanks undeveloped for years, are to be recommended by an Oireachtas inquiry.
However, the Joint Committee on the Constitution, chaired by the Fianna Fáil TD for Cork South West, Mr Denis O'Donovan, has not yet decided its attitude towards calls for the price of building land to be capped.
"I do think that there will be startling revelations in our report, which will show that our planning system has not been working properly for much of the last 30-40 years," Mr O'Donovan told The Irish Times.
A final report from the Joint Committee on the issue, which was specifically sought by the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, may not be ready until the new year, he advised.
"There is a lot of work to do on this yet. It would be a bit premature to say that we have decided in favour of putting caps on the price of building land," he went on.
However, he said most of the legal advice offered to the committee so far indicated that curbs could be put in place without the need for an amendment to the Constitution.
"The balance of evidence so far is that a constitutional referendum may not be required, that changes can be made with legislation, though there are some views, albeit in the minority, that we should tweak the Constitution," he said.
A leading constitutional lawyer, Mr Gerard Hogan, told the Oireachtas committee during a private session last month that private property rights conferred by the Constitution were not a "free marketeer's charter".
He pointed to two Supreme Court rulings, one involving the Planning and Development Act, 2000, over the past eight years that balanced the individual's right to own property against the common good.
Earlier this year Mr Ahern publicly favoured putting some form of controls on the price of building land in the hope that this would slow rising house prices.
During Leinster House hearings in July auctioneering bodies cautioned against the use of price caps on the grounds that housing prices are settling down.
However, Mr O'Donovan said: "Despite this we have been told every six months for the last four or five years that house prices are not falling.
"They may not be increasing as fast as they were, but they are increasing."
The Oireachtas committee will resume hearings in September. Besides Mr O'Donovan, its members are TDs Mr Barry Andrews, Mr Jimmy Devins, Mr Peter Power, Mr Padraic McCormack, Mr Dan Neville, Ms Jan O'Sullivan, Mr Arthur Morgan, Mr Ciarán Cuffe and Mr James Breen.
The members of the Seanad on the committee are Mr Brendan Daly and Ms Anne Ormonde of Fianna Fáil, the Progressive Democrats' Mr John Dardis and Ms Joanna Tuffy of Labour.
"I would like to think that we could produce our report by early December, though there is a danger that it could slip into the new year for logistical reasons," Mr O'Donovan said.
The issue could yet prove to be a significant irritant in relations between Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats, since the latter has already voiced opposition to price caps.
Last weekend the Minister of State, Mr Tom Parlon of the PDs, said his party supported the goal of providing quality affordable housing to all but would not countenance any weakening of private property rights.
However, the Green Party TD, Mr Ciaran Cuffe, said Mr Parlon's views "revealed the true colours of the PDs, who simply wish to protect the vested interests of property-owners rather than provide affordable housing".
