Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

He has other business today.

This has been a very difficult and divisive issue throughout the history of this country. I have been around for long enough to recognise how difficult it has been for many people. The motivation of the Taoiseach in establishing the Citizens' Assembly mirrors what he did in the case of the X case. As the Deputy knows, the X case lay around for 20 years, and no Dáil had the courage of its convictions to deal with what the Supreme Court had found in the X case. The Taoiseach established a process that allowed the Dáil to make those decisions. Those were done under his stewardship. The approach he took was to have a Citizens' Assembly, to follow that up with an Oireachtas committee and then to move on to legislate. He is mirroring that approach in what he is doing now. I commend the Citizens' Assembly and Ms Justice Mary Laffoy for the painstaking work that they have taken upon themselves. I am looking forward to that report which will be with us before the end of June. The Oireachtas is going to establish an all-party Dáil and Seanad committee to examine the recommendations coming from the Citizens' Assembly, and that will come back to the House. That will be done within three months of its sitting.

The Government's intention is clearly that this will not lie untouched. This is an issue of considerable importance to the people. We have established an approach that has proved itself in the past. It will give the opportunity to this House to consider these issues in a fair and balanced way without seeking to push or bully people but allowing a sensible debate based on the facts and on the work done by the assembly and by others. That is an approach that commends itself. It is the Legislature doing its work, and it is innovative in bringing in the Citizens' Assembly, which as the Deputy recognises herself, has been a very useful exercise in broadening the base of the discussion that we can have. It will be coming back to the Oireachtas and the opportunity will be here to thrash out the issues, through the committee initially and then here on the floor of the House.

See this speech in context