Dáil debates

Wednesday, 13 July 2016

7:45 pm

Photo of Regina DohertyRegina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the motion. I, too, was a member of the Constitutional Convention, which was established shortly after I was elected for the first time. My involvement in the convention was probably one of the most enjoyable experiences I had in the past five years because it allowed me to appreciate the views of citizens who were debating issues and arguing with a politicians in a normal setting. Ultimately, democracy won out every Sunday that the convention met, a consensus was formed and its recommendations were put to the Houses.

I accept the criticism that some issues that some issues that should have been dealt with have not been included in the remit of the citizens' assembly. However, it is a little bizarre - perhaps it is simply a reflection of the make-up of this Dáil - to have some speakers accuse the Government of using the citizens' assembly as a mechanism to avoid dealing with the elephant in the room, namely, the eighth amendment, and others argue that we are using the assembly to fast-track dealing with the eighth amendment. This mechanism is being established to have a reasonable conversation against the backdrop of the unreasonable conversations that occurred every time abortion was mentioned in recent years.

While the issue may be clear-cut for some Deputies, they do not speak for me because I do not share the view that we should repeal the eighth amendment and allow legislation to take its course without replacing it with something. We need to have a conversation with families about diagnoses of fatal foetal abnormalities. We need to have a conversation about women who have medical issues or have found themselves in the horrendous position of being pregnant as a result of rape or incest. We also need to have a conversation with citizens about the thousands of women who leave the country to have abortions every year. In my humble opinion, we must have these conversations before holding a referendum on the eighth amendment. I would like to bring people with us, rather than lecturing them about what we believe they should be asked. The citizens' assembly is a means of having a conversation before holding a referendum on the eighth amendment.

The Government will accept the amendment tabled by the Green Party. The citizens' assembly is a reasonable mechanism for discussing serious issues such as climate change and our 2020 targets. In trying to implement policy, however, this Government and its two immediate predecessors met considerable resistance from Irish people because we did not have proper conversations with communities or engage with citizens and human beings, as Deputy Coppinger stated. There is significant opposition to wind energy because we took the wrong approach to the issue. The citizens' assembly presents us with an opportunity to have rational conversations on our 2020 targets and engage people in the discussion about how we will achieve them using technologies such as wind, solar and geothermal energy. We must have this discussion in a rational setting as opposed to trying to impose measures on communities.

8 o’clock

This is an opportunity to talk in a rational setting about wind, solar and geothermal energy and all the options available to us as opposed to trying to enforce things in communities. That is an important list and we should add to it because it is not an exhaustive list. Some things have been issued but one of the caveats is that other things can be issued as they come up. As the Sinn Féin amendment has indicated, it would be important for us to talk about a united Ireland and how we actually view how we are going to get there against the backdrop of the Good Friday Agreement and the fact the Brexit vote has been successful in the United Kingdom in recent weeks.

For me, this is a must. We will be supporting it and we will be asking as many people in the House to support it. This will allow us to have the Electoral (Amendment)(No. 2) Bill passed tomorrow in order that we can get the citizens' assembly established in September. I agree that there is no need for 12 month to pass. Once the first issue has been dealt with, the report should come back to Government and the House. At that stage we can discuss it and decide what we are going to do next. We can report back as topics go by to allow the whole process to be finished within the coming 12 months. When issues come up, we can address them as a parliament. Then, if it is the will of this Parliament to have a referendum, let us decide what we are having the referendum on, what it will look like and what the legislation will look like afterwards. Let us do it. There is no reason we cannot do it in the first half of next year.

I am asking for support. I commend the motion to the House and I am looking for as much support as we can get today and tomorrow to get this passed and to get the citizens' assembly established.

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