The Citizens' Assembly ( and also known as We The Citizens) is a citizens' assembly established in Ireland in 2016 to consider several political questions including the Constitution of Ireland. Questions considered include: abortion, fixed term parliaments, referendums, population ageing, and climate change. Over 18 months a report is produced on each topic. The government is required to respond officially to the reports in the (parliament); responses have been given on three of the five topics.
Background
The Citizens' Assembly was a successor to the 2012–14 Constitutional Convention, which was established by the Oireachtas in accordance with the government programme agreed by the Fine Gael–Labour coalition formed after the 2011 general election. Convention members were a chairperson nominated by the government, 33 representatives chosen by political parties, and 66 randomly chosen citizens. Meeting over 15 months, it considered seven constitutional issues previously specified by the Oireachtas and two more of its own choosing. It made 18 recommendations for constitutional amendments and 20 for other changes to laws or Oireachtas standing orders; the government accepted some, rejected others, and referred others to committees for further consultation. In 2015 Taoiseach Enda Kenny entertained the possibility of a similar body meeting after the next general election, which occurred in 2016. In the buildup to the election, various politicians proposed changes to Irish abortion law, including repeal of the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution, which guaranteed a foetal right to life. In November 2015, Kenny promised "a Citizen's Convention on the constitution, or whatever title would be appropriate" to address the issue.
Establishment The programme agreed by the Fine Gael–independent minority government formed after the 2016 election included this commitment:
On 13 July 2016, Damien English moved a resolution in the 32nd Dáil (lower house) approving the "calling of a Citizens' Assembly" to consider the four issues specified in the government programme and "such other matters as may be referred to it". A Green Party amendment was accepted which added "how the State can make Ireland a leader in tackling climate change" to the list of topics. Sinn Féin and AAA–PBP amendments were rejected. An analogous resolution was passed in the 25th Seanad (upper house) on 15 July.
In July 2019 Eoghan Murphy introducing legislation related to the "Dublin Citizens' Assembly" and the "Citizens' Assembly 2019". The Irish Times viewed these as lacking the justification for the original Citizens' Assembly, in that they relate to "purely political issue[s] which TDs are well capable of deciding".
Personnel Chairpeople
Members Members of each assembly consist of 99 citizens and the chair for a total of 100 members. The chairperson was Mary Laffoy, a former judge at the Supreme Court of Ireland.
The 99 other members were "citizens entitled to vote at a referendum, randomly selected so as to be broadly representative of Irish society". The representative criteria included gender, age, location, and social class.
For the 66 citizen members of the Constitutional Convention, these 99 plus 99 substitutesDáil debates, 4 October 2016. "these 99 citizens and their 99 substitutes" were selected by an opinion polling company; Red C won the tender and began selection at the start of September. The Electoral (Amendment) Act 2016 was passed to enable the electoral register to be used in this process. Media were asked not to photograph the citizen members before the inaugural assembly meeting. Members received expenses but no other payment. Of the original 99 members, 17 withdrew before the first working meeting, whose replacements immediately took over; another 11 withdrew before the final abortion meeting, whose replacements did not participate until the assembly moved on to its next topic for discussion. Seven replacements joining in January 2018 were removed the following month when it emerged they were recruited via acquaintances of a Red C employee, who was then suspended, rather than via random selection.
Secretariat The assembly's secretariat was drawn from the Civil Service. Its office was at 16 Parnell Square in Dublin. In June 2016 the assembly's cost was estimated at €600,000, drawn from the Department of the Taoiseach, with €200,000 in 2016 and the balance in 2017. In October 2016 the Taoiseach said €2m had been set aside.Dáil debates, 4 October 2016. "A total of €2 million has been set aside by my own Department for the citizen's assembly." The total cost to March 2019 was €2,355,557, of which €1,535,133 was spent in 2017.
Deliberation process
The inaugural and introductory assembly meeting was held on 15 October 2016 at Dublin Castle.Dáil debates, 4 October 2016. "The assembly's inaugural meeting will be an introductory session to allow the members of the assembly the opportunity to meet the chairperson and one another and to gain a better understanding of the context for the work that they will be undertaking." The Grand Hotel, Malahide won the tender to host later, working, meetings. RTÉ News predicted that there would be ten weekend sessions, each "opened with an address from the Chairperson, followed by expert presentations, Q&A sessions and debate, roundtable discussion and a plenary session." Meetings were livestreamed. Submissions from the public were invited. The assembly was originally supposed to complete its business within a year of its first meeting. This was extended in October 2017 and again in March 2018, to 27 April 2018.;
; The government then formally responded to each report. The calendar published in October 2016 included seven three-day working meetings, one in November 2016 and one each month from January to July 2017.
Assembly matters Eighth Amendment
The first issue to be considered was the Eighth Amendment, beginning at its first working meeting on 25 November 2016.Dáil debates, 4 October 2016. "The assembly will meet again in late November, at which time it will commence its consideration of the first item referred to it by the Dáil resolution, that is, the eighth amendment of the Constitution." Enda Kenny in September 2016 estimated it could take "six to seven months" to issue a report, which was referred to an Oireachtas joint committee,Dáil debates, 4 October 2016. "I think we will have a special Oireachtas committee on that." This committee, in turn, produced a report for debate in each house. Resolutions to establish the "Special Joint Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution" were passed on 4 and 13 April 2017 by the Dáil and Seanad respectively.;
The assembly's inaugural meeting decided that the abortion issue would be the topic for its first four working meetings, a number later increased to five. An advisory group of five experts was appointed: a medical lawyer, two constitutional lawyers, and two obstetricians. The chairperson said she would investigate claims that an assembly member had publicly expressed pro-choice views on Twitter. In the Dáil, Mattie McGrath complained that two of the five experts had previously expressed dissatisfaction with the existing abortion provisions.
The opposition Anti-Austerity Alliance–People Before Profit (AAA–PBP) scheduled the second stage of a private member's bill repealing the Eighth Amendment for debate in the Dáil on 25 October 2016. Fine Gael opposed the bill on the grounds that it would pre-empt the Citizens' Assembly discussion. Similarly, independent minister Katherine Zappone said that, in deference to the assembly's work, she would oppose the bill despite herself favouring repeal. The Independent Alliance ministers wanted a free vote, which Fine Gael opposed as compromising cabinet collective responsibility. As a compromise, it was agreed that government TDs would oppose the AAA–PBP bill and would not shorten the assembly's timeframe for considering the abortion issue, but that the Oireachtas would expedite the processing of the assembly's report, by establishing the select committee ahead of time and giving it a strict six-month lifespan. Accordingly, Simon Harris, the Minister for Health, moved an amendment to the second-reading motion, that "Dáil Éireann declines to give the Bill a second reading in order that the Citizens' Assembly, established by Resolutions of Dáil Éireann and Seanad Éireann, can conclude its deliberations on the Eighth Amendment which is the subject matter of this Bill, and report to the Oireachtas in the first half of 2017".
Over 13,000 submissions were received from the public by the closing date of 16 December 2016. More than 8,000 were submitted electronically, including over 3,200 the final 24 hours. Submissions were uploaded to the assembly website, with "personal stories or sensitive submissions" deidentified. Based on feedback from members, the chairperson selected 17 submitting organisations to make presentations to the assembly. These were announced on 21 February: Amnesty International Ireland, Atheist Ireland, Coalition to Repeal the Eighth Amendment, Doctors for Choice, Doctors for Life Ireland, Every Life Counts, Family & Life, Irish Catholic Bishops' Conference, Irish Family Planning Association, Parents for Choice, Pro Life Campaign, General Synod of the Church of Ireland, Iona Institute, National Women's Council of Ireland, Union of Students in Ireland, Women Hurt, Youth Defence.
Votes The final meeting on abortion began on 22 April, with a series of votes held based on the deliberations from the earlier meetings. The first day's votes were on Article 40.3.3°, the subsection of the Constitution added by the Eighth Amendment: It should not be retained in full (by 79 votes to 12) It should be replaced or amended (50 votes) rather than deleted and not replaced (39 votes) It should allow the Oireachtas to legislate (51 votes) rather than making direct provisions within the Constitution itself (38 votes) regarding "termination of pregnancy, any rights of the unborn, and any rights of the pregnant woman"
The second day's votes were recommendations for the envisaged Oireachtas legislation. There were separate votes on a range of potential circumstances in which abortion might be permitted, possibly restricted to a maximum number of weeks' gestation.
+ Votes for given option, out of a total of 88 votes cast. Voteno. Circumstance Time limit for gestation OtherIncludes abstentions and invalid votes Never 12 weeks 22 weeks No limit 1 Real and substantial physical risk to life of woman 1 8 12 62 5 2 Real and substantial risk to life of woman by suicide 4 9 22 48 5 3 Serious risk to physical health of woman 6 12 21 43 6 4 Serious risk to mental health of woman 8 15 24 35 6 5 Serious risk to health of woman 8 12 25 40 3 6 Risk to physical health of woman 18 12 26 28 4 7 Risk to mental health of woman 18 12 31 20 7 8 Risk to health of woman 18 10 30 25 5 9 Pregnancy resulting from rape 9 23 25 25 6 10 Fetal abnormality likely to result in death before or shortly after birth 10 6 18 53 1 11 Significant fetal abnormality not likely to result in death before or shortly after birth 17 9 32 25 5 12 Socio-economic reasons 23 24 30 65 13 Unrestricted 29 25 23 4 7
Journalist Mary Minihan reported the following week that "the consensus in the Oireachtas is that the assembly's recommendations were an overly-liberal interpretation of the current thinking of middle Ireland on the issue." On 29 June 2017, the assembly's official report was laid before the Oireachtas and published. On 11 July 2017, the Oireachtas Joint Committee agreed its programme for considering the report, including a presentation from the assembly chairperson at a public session on 20 September 2017.