Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Let us look at what the Government has done already. The matter has been referred to the Citizens' Assembly. The timeline we are operating to at present is that we will have the report from the Citizens' Assembly in the first half of 2017. It will then be referred to the committee, which will be expected to report back within six months. That is the current timeline that we have, which brings us towards the end of this year. It will then be a matter for the Business Committee to decide how the issue will be taken forward in the Dáil for further Oireachtas deliberations. Those are the details of the timeline that we have at present. The report from the Citizens' Assembly is due in the first half of 2017, the special Oireachtas committee is to report back within six months and then other decisions will follow from that, including the very important debate here in the House.

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