Ms Orla O'Connor:

I agree. A citizen's assembly-plus is probably a good way of putting it. Our past experience of the formation of a citizens' assembly, in terms of creating a safe space and ensuring it is representative, has given a strong indication as to where people are. We can, for example, draw on some of the learning from how we dealt with abortion and the repeal campaign. It was not just about the citizens' assembly. That was probably the only Government-led forum. There were so many other conversations taking place in communities, led by civil society, for instance, and student organisations. We were going around having small conversations in communities. That is what we need in this case. It is really important, as the Deputy said, that all engagements feed in somewhere in order that the process has authority and people feel there is a point to engaging in the conversations. It is quite different in that way from how the movement for repeal worked in the case of the abortion referendum. We need all those conversations and for all of that to happen to ensure there is ownership of the process. As the Deputy said, the two types of engagement are not mutually exclusive. I would include the citizens' assembly within a larger framework. It offers a good deliberative process.