Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The citizen delegates who attended the Constitutional Convention did their work, as did the chair and staff. I attended a number of the meetings and noted that citizens who had no previous political experience were well prepared and were uplifted by the experience. They played their part, but the Government has not played its part.

The Taoiseach said there were five reports from the Constitutional Convention and that there would be Dáil debates on all of the outstanding reports in this session. He said the same in July and when I raised this matter previous to that. I have formed the view now that this delay is due to nothing other than that some of the issues coming forward, such as the right to housing, the reduction of the voting age, social and economic rights and voting rights for the diaspora, are issues the Taoiseach is against and that this is why they have not been brought forward. There has been no other satisfactory explanation for the delay given by the Taoiseach on the number of occasions I have raised these issues. We will see whether these issues come forward in this session, but will the Taoiseach explain why there are five outstanding reports?

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