Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I welcome that the House is finally discussing a proposal to address the issue of the eighth amendment, although it has taken some time for it to come before us. There is a concern that the citizens' assembly could be used as a mechanism for kicking this issue down the road and delaying full engagement on the matter. For this reason, I am concerned about the timescale that has been set out. We should have been able to deal with this issue, including by means of referendum, within 18 months of the general election. The election was held almost six months ago and once the citizens' assembly has been established, a further 12 months has been set out for completing the process. I do not understand the reason for such a long timescale, especially as the Government has not given a clear commitment to act on the recommendations of the assembly. In theory, this process could be stretched out for a further two or two and a half years. This is highly unsatisfactory and some clarity is needed in this regard.

The Constitutional Convention was relatively successful and worked well in the main. The problem with the convention was that not all of its recommendations were taken on board by the Government or dealt with expeditiously. We must learn from that experience.

I will discuss briefly the four issues selected for consideration by the citizens' assembly. While the first, the eighth amendment, is critical, I wonder from where on earth the third and fourth issues came. There is no pressing need for a fixed-term parliament and I have no idea what is meant by the reference to "the manner in which referenda are held". Why are we not using this opportunity to deal with some of the constitutional issues that arise time after time in the House? Surely these issues should take precedence. The two matters that come to mind are the property rights enshrined in the Constitution, which are spoken of as a barrier to tackling many issues related to property - including upward-only rent reviews - and the need to quickly address the Equal Status Act in respect of access to schools.

There is an onus on the Government to build confidence in this process. This will mean giving a clear commitment that everything will be done in an open and transparent manner, that the budget of the citizens' assembly will not be an issue and that the selection of the panels and chairperson will be done in a fully transparent and open manner. As I indicated, the timescale provided is also an issue. The Government should at least give a cast-iron commitment to take immediate action on foot of any recommendation that is made by the citizens' assembly. These steps must be taken to build confidence.

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