Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 6, inclusive, together.

The establishment of the Citizens’ Assembly on gender equality was approved by Dáil Éireann on 9 July and Seanad Éireann on 11 July this year. The Citizens' Assemblies Act 2019 providing for the use of the electoral register to select members for both Citizens' Assemblies was subsequently enacted and signed into law by the President on 25 July. The membership of the Citizens' Assembly on gender equality will comprise the chairperson and 99 citizens entitled to vote at referendums, recruited at a national level and randomly selected to be broadly representative of Irish society. Significant progress has been made with regard to the various elements required to establish the assembly. Dr. Catherine Day, the former Secretary-General of the European Commission has been appointed to chair the assembly. A secretary has also been appointed and a secretariat team is in place. The immediate priority was to secure the various services required through procurement with a view to holding an inaugural meeting of the assembly as soon as possible. This is now complete and member selection is under way with an inaugural meeting of the assembly scheduled for Saturday, 25 January 2020. The first full weekend meeting is planned for the weekend of 14 to 16 February 2020 and the dates for four further weekend meetings have been confirmed.

As agreed in the Oireachtas resolution, the assembly will engage independent researchers to monitor and record, among other things, the deliberative quality of the assembly. An Irish Research Council call to select a research fellow to conduct this work has closed with a view to an appointment shortly. Consultation and public engagement are also important to ensure a broad spectrum of views is available to the Citizens' Assembly members and to ensure public buy-in and awareness of the work of the assembly. With that in mind, there has been extensive engagement with relevant experts in the field including through consultative round tables, and a public consultation will also be initiated.

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