Fintan Warfield (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I was also reluctant to change my address during recent referendum campaigns because of a fear of being left off the register. Sinn Féin will support the Bill. As some have mentioned, it is a short technical Bill which is required to enable the selection of citizens for membership of citizens’ assemblies, particularly the upcoming assemblies on gender equality and local government in Dublin. There is some cynicism about citizens’ assemblies and the preceding Constitutional Convention which were seen by some as a delaying tactic in the context of certain referendums. They did delay them, but in hindsight they were good contributions to the national conversation. I look forward to seeing the findings of the next citizens’ assemblies and hope the agendas will remain as ambitious as those of assemblies that have gone before.

On local government in Dublin, I hope the city can be reimagined as a working and living city. As tourism grows in Dublin, it becomes more difficult to refine and conserve its identity, housing and core amenities, particularly social and green spaces, cultural venues and so on. We need to be mindful that local government in Dublin does not have sole control over how it grows and that local government in counties Kildare and Meath have a really important role to play in the development of the city. Development is outside the control of many of the Dublin councils.

On gender equality, we need to be ambitious in the working agenda in order that the changes we suggest will not just be cosmetic but will have a lasting impact in eradicating gender imbalance and misogyny and highlighting the role of women in society. We must hold a magnifying glass to the patriarchal elements of the Statute Book, both historical and current, and the effects they have had.

I am dismayed by the slow pace of implementation of some the recommendations of both the Constitutional Convention and the Citizens' Assembly. We can consider the Constitutional Convention to be the design of the last Fine Gael and Labour Party Government. A certain complacency seemed to grow around recommendations that were not political priorities for Fine Gael. There are a few examples. A referendum to reduce the voting age to 16 years has been shelved by two successive Governments. There are also the matters of citizen involvement in presidential nominations; the formation of citizens' initiatives to allow citizens to formulate legislation; the constitutional right to a home and the constitutional realisation of economic, social and cultural rights, on which we have seen a report produced that is languishing with the finance committee. There is also the question of holding a further convention during the Government's term on Seanad and local government reform. Whereas the establishment of an electoral commission and the holding of referendums on presidential voting rights and women's role in the home have been slow but moving, I hope we will see real progress soon. As we commit to having more citizens' assemblies, we must be more open than we have been to their recommendations, regardless of whether we agree with them. We must debate their merits in the Houses or put them to the people in referendums.