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

We anticipate having this assembly up and running by the middle of 2023. I welcome any input the Deputy may have between now and then as to how we structure the assembly properly to get the best outcomes from it. As is the normal course, the citizens' assembly will be allowed to hold its meetings, deliberate and make its recommendations. These recommendations will be sent to an Oireachtas committee that will study them in a bit more detail and report to the Oireachtas and Government as to what the next steps should be. It is always the case that we accept the recommendations from a citizens' assembly in good faith, but it is never the case that we will say in advance that we will accept any recommendation it makes no matter what it is. In fairness, I do not think the Deputy is asking us to do that. What will happen is that we will accept the recommendations in good faith, examine them on an individual basis and issue a reasoned response once the Oireachtas committee has done its work.

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