Dr. Gráinne Healy:

I am sure we are all aware of how effective a tool a citizens' assembly as a structure has been at allowing us to bring citizens into the room, to present them with solid, evidence-based research and to put questions to them. By and large, not just in the case of the assemblies on marriage equality and the eighth amendment, the experience has been that they come up with the correct answers.

The commitment to universal healthcare is strong and has not slipped. Nevertheless, engaging the citizens in a conversation about the path to it would be useful. It is not about not providing it but rather about seeking the informed views on how we would go about providing it, which we would determine by gathering the citizens' opinions. I am a fan of the citizens' assembly as an important, structured way of gathering views. While we are mindful of the House's own work over a period, carried out by many Members of the Oireachtas, the committee and the experts who appeared before it, we have discovered in our engagement that the public has little knowledge or understanding of the matter. The citizens' assembly structure is a way of focusing the desired media attention on such conversations and discussions and of genuinely involving the public.

That is a short summary of why we propose a citizens' assembly. There is a head of steam behind it and we would love for it to be done. It is not a way of kicking the can down the road. In fact, it is the opposite. It is a matter of engaging the citizens on what remains one of the main commitments of the Sláintecare project.