Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State. The number of issues coming up that would be of focused interest to the assemblies include biodiversity, local government, the directly elected mayor for Dublin, local government structures for Dublin, drug use, which is an important issue, and the future of education. When we talk about assemblies, we have to be fair, frank, honest and open. How can the Dáil and the public be certain that the citizens' assemblies will operate within the scope of their respective mandates?

The final report of the Citizen's Assembly on gender equality, chaired by Catherine Day, states that the assembly deliberately went beyond the mandate provided to it by the Oireachtas. That assembly decided that restricting its work under the terms of reference to women, men, boys and girls, as decided by the Oireachtas resolution, was unacceptable and could be seen as excluding non-binary and transgender people. According to the final report, the assembly took a broader view and determined that gender should refer to any and all options in terms of gender identity. The Oireachtas resolution which created the assembly on gender equality states that the assembly was mandated to "challenge the remaining barriers and social norms and attitudes that facilitate gender discrimination towards girls and boys, women and men". Undoubtedly, some will take that expansion of the assembly's remit as a positive step, while others will take it as an attempt to minimise sex-based rights. The important point, regardless of one's view on the matter, is that beyond doubt that assembly deliberately and materially decided to move outside the clear and unambiguous limits placed on it by the Oireachtas. That move was a violation of the terms of its work and, crucially, an undermining of the democratic Chambers of the Oireachtas.

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