Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I wish to share time with Senator James Reilly. I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy English, to the House.

Notwithstanding the remarks of Senator McDowell, some of which I agree with, I very much welcome the composition and creation of the citizens' assembly. It is a good idea, not least because the decision-making rests in the Houses of the Oireachtas and with the people. Ultimately, the people will decide what happens emerging from the reports of the assembly.

Unlike Senator Mullen, I was a member of the previous Constitutional Convention and missed no meeting. It was an extraordinary success, given the number of people involved. There were self-employed, working people and unemployed, and they were young, old, gay, straight or whatever. As for this notion that persons of different subsets could not participate, they were all there in the pot pourriof Irish life.

I must disagree with Senator McDowell in this regard. The chairman of the Constitutional Convention, Tom Arnold, was an impeccable chairman and the agenda of the chair did not drive anything. Where I agree with Senator McDowell is on fixed-term parliaments. Personally, I would not like to see that happening. However, there was no agenda from the chair in the Constitutional Convention. The panel of experts were from all sides of life - academic and wherever. They were absolutely impartial and they worked to arrive at decisions. I would contend that one could find no fault with the enthusiasm, commitment, knowledge and participation of the citizen members in the last Constitutional Convention.Senator Mullen suggested that different types of people were involved. He was right when he spoke about the transparency of the process. I have no problem with that. There were people with different viewpoints at the convention. That never changed. People came in with open minds and participated in a debate. I could go a step further by mentioning the groupthink that existed on one side of the House. I do not think that should happen on this occasion, as it would undermine the role of the citizens' assembly. We should welcome the assembly with open arms. We should allow this motion to pass. I agree with Senator McDowell that we should make decisions. We will do so, but the people will make the final decision when they are asked to participate in a ballot, if they are asked to do so.

Senator Mullen spoke about the Chief Whip. I remind him that she was referring to an outcome that could happen, just as outcomes happened previously on foot of the work of the Constitutional Convention.