Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Adams for his comments. It is fair to say that Tom Arnold and all of those people who were chosen and participated in the Constitutional Convention were proud of the fact that they were responsible in many ways for changes to the Constitution. They felt very pleased to be a part of the democratic process by contributing to questions that people were asked in a referendum and to the answers they gave, with particular reference to the marriage equality referendum.

We have learned some lessons. I had thought originally that it might be possible to run four or five referendums on the one day and people could tick the boxes. That is not the way it works, because when there is a referendum people begin to ask what the issues are on the "Yes" and "No" side. If one imagines knocking on the door of a constituent's house and saying "I am here about the referendums; there are four or five next Wednesday, and these are the issues," one does not have the opportunity to explain that in the 30 seconds or 90 seconds one might get on a doorway. I have come back from that view. One or two might be the most we could have because, if multiple referendums were held on the same day, citizens would lose interest and say "I cannot take all this in," because of the "Yes" and "No" side and the way things are conducted.

The assembly will be 100 citizens. That is not to decry in any way the contribution made by the political representatives on the last occasion. I have authorisation from the Cabinet to set up the assembly. We got authorisation to use the electoral register, which has to apply. I will now proceed to go through the process of nominating an appropriate polling company, which will be able to use the information on the electoral register to select the 100 citizens. I will take advice from anybody on potential candidates for chairperson. The first issue they will look at is the eighth amendment. The implications of that are very serious and sensitive for many people.

Tom Arnold was not appointed until later on in the day. It might have been better if he had been appointed a little earlier. That is not to decry his merits or value at all, but perhaps if the chairperson were to be appointed earlier he or she might be in a position to give out information about what the work of the assembly will be. We will consider that. I hope to have the polling company up and doing its work pretty soon. I would like to think it would be ready to go as an assembly by the end of September so we can have the first meeting in October, not November. I have committed to bring that forward because of the importance and interest in looking at the question of the eighth amendment.

Will the assembly be able to do things itself? Yes, it will. The Government has given it a few things to do - to look, first of all, at the question of the eighth amendment and aging in Ireland, on which there are a number of issues. The assembly itself could decide to look at X or Y as well. The remit of the assembly is for 12 months unless otherwise decided. The first issue it will reflect on is the eighth amendment, and when it makes its recommendations or propositions it can send them back to the Oireachtas. I do not know how long that will take. I assume they will want some reasonable time to reflect on those issues and call in people who might advise them on the range of activities. The items the assembly is to consider, including the eighth amendment, are set out in the programme for Government. The chairperson will be completely independent. I hope that those who are selected by the polling company will do their job well.

I am not in a position to say here that we can have referendums on X or Y. We need to get agreement from everybody on the referendums the previous Government agreed to hold but was not in a position to hold and whatever might arise from the reflections of the assembly with regard to the eighth amendment. We need to get agreement from everybody as to the timing or the number of referendums to be held. My original thought of having a super-referendum day is one I cannot see working in reality because people get overloaded with information from the for and against sides, depending on what the issue is.

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