Susan O'Keeffe (Labour) | Oireachtas source

We can allow frivolous moments.

The role of women in public life and same sex marriage were highlights in the very important matters of our time that were discussed. The subjects were pretty tough and the discussions timely, but are there as many again that could be discussed? We could go on and several of my colleagues suggested many topics that were of importance. Was the Constitutional Convention valuable because we considered there was a limit to it, with less being more, and if we had continued sitting ad infinitum, would it have lost its impact? Does Mr. Arnold have an observation in that regard?

I support Senator Sean D. Barrett's observation about the possibility of hosting an event or reaching out to people in Northern Ireland for the reasons he very adequately outlined. Some of the flaws in citizens' assemblies in other countries have been noted, but now that we have had a very well run constitutional convention over a number of months, is there something from other countries that could have been pondered? Did we miss anything?

Information was provided in a timely way and in as balanced a manner as possible. Was the process at times overly academic and was the balance between academics and non-academics right? That is not an observation on the value of the advice given, as it was superb, given the time constraints on the people giving it. Given that citizens were coming to it for the very first time, did this sometimes block the collective capability to reach into subjects because it might have felt academic?