Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am pleased to have this opportunity to outline to the members of Seanad Éireann the objective of and basis for the motion before the House today to establish two new citizens' assemblies. Over the past decade, citizens' assemblies have become established as an important part of the Irish democratic process, with previous forums making recommendations on a variety of matters including marriage equality, the eighth amendment, climate change and, most recently, gender equality. The views expressed by citizens' assemblies have on a number of occasions led to constitutional change and significant enhancements to the State in which we live and the way we live our lives.

Ireland is widely regarded as a world leader in deliberative democracy. Over the past ten years we have welcomed dozens of international visitors to our shores keen to learn from our experience of citizens' assemblies. I wish to take this opportunity to pay tribute to the many hundreds of ordinary citizens, the academic community and Members of the Oireachtas who played a central role in the previous assemblies for their hard work and their commitment to public service.

The Programme for Government: Our Shared Future contains a commitment to progress the establishment of a number of new citizens' assemblies, including on biodiversity loss, drugs use, the future of education and the type of directly elected mayor and local government structures best suited to Dublin. The most recent citizens' assembly, which was on gender equality, concluded its work and published its report in June 2021. In the intervening period, the Covid-19 pandemic has meant that it has not been possible until now to arrange for the establishment and running of further assemblies. The easing of public health restrictions announced on 21 January means that it is once again possible to plan for the running of citizens' assemblies with in-person meetings.

On Tuesday, 8 February, the Government agreed to the establishment of two citizens' assemblies, one dealing with biodiversity loss and the other with the type of directly elected mayor and local government structures best suited for Dublin. It is the Government's intention that these two assemblies will be quickly followed by two further assemblies on drugs use and the future of education.

Today, on behalf of the Government, I am pleased to bring forward to Seanad Éireann this motion approving the establishment of the citizens' assembly on biodiversity loss and a Dublin citizens' assembly. The issues to be considered by these assemblies are important and Government wants to move with some urgency to get both assemblies up and running. It is envisaged that the inaugural meeting of the assemblies will take place in April this year, with the assemblies concluding their work and submitting their reports, ideally by the end of the year at the latest or earlier if possible. This will be the first time that two assemblies will run concurrently. Naturally, it will give rise to some logistical challenges, but it can also be seen as an opportunity to design an operational model that can allow for a greater number of citizens' assemblies to run in the future.

It is envisaged that a citizens' assembly on drug use will follow these two assemblies, with the intention of running it concurrently with an assembly on the future of education. It is the Government's intention to establish these next two assemblies at the earliest opportunity.

The sequencing of the citizens' assemblies does not indicate or imply a hierarchy of importance. It is, however, a clear recognition that each of the four assemblies committed to in the programme for Government need adequate time, space and resources to operate as the high-quality deliberative forums that they are intended to be. To rush the work of the assemblies or to run too many concurrently would only serve to diminish the quality of the deliberative process, to undervalue the commitment of the members who give of their time to serve on the assemblies and, ultimately, to determine the credibility of the assemblies.

The motion before the Seanad calls for both assemblies to conclude their work and submit their reports no later than nine months from their date of establishment and earlier if possible. If, as envisaged, they get under way in April, they should ideally have reported to the Oireachtas by December at the latest and earlier if possible. Should one or both of the assemblies submit their reports earlier than December, there is every prospect of getting at least one of the next citizens' assemblies up and running later this year. Any decision on the establishment of the citizens' assemblies on drug use and on the future of education will, of course, will be subject to a Government decision and resolutions of Dáil and Seanad Éireann at that time.

The motion before the House proposes that the assemblies should, like those that preceded them, report to the Houses of the Oireachtas, which, on receipt of the final reports of the assemblies, will refer those to relevant Oireachtas committees for consideration. In addition, it is proposed that the Government will provide, in the Houses of the Oireachtas, a response to the recommendations of the assembly and an indication of a proposed course of action.

Eligibility for membership of the assemblies is wider than before. For the first time, it will go beyond the electoral register to include all residents in the State. This new initiative opens up the membership to non-Irish and those normally hard-to-reach groups who, for a variety of reasons, are not on the electoral register. All residents in this country are affected by the issues to be considered and I am certain that these new representatives will add to the diversity of the group and make a valuable contribution to the proceedings.

The use of polling companies to recruit the assembly members on the three previous occasions in the past ten years posed significant logistical and administrative challenges and occasionally resulted in suboptimal outcomes. In line with best international practice, it is proposed that on this occasion recruitment will be done by a mailing campaign, with 20,000 randomly selected households invited to apply to participate in the biodiversity loss assembly and 14,000 invited to partake in the Dublin assembly.From those who respond indicating a willingness to take part, members will be selected on the basis of gender, age, geography and a number of other factors to ensure they are broadly representative of wider society. We have learned much from the experience of previous assemblies and I am confident this change in approach will greatly enhance the quality of the random selection methodology.

The citizens' assembly on biodiversity loss will include an independent chairperson and 99 members of the general public selected using a stratified random selection process based on the GeoDirectory of households across the country. The Dublin citizens' assembly will include an independent chairperson and 67 members of the general public, again selected using a stratified random selection process based on the GeoDirectory of households in Dublin city and county. It will also include a total of 12 councillors from across the four local authorities in Dublin, bringing the total membership of that assembly to 80. I am sure the inclusion of councillors will add to the quality of deliberation and that the other members will benefit greatly from their strategic and operational experience at all levels of local government. Similar to the first constitutional convention, where the membership comprised one third politicians, every effort will be made to ensure equality of voice among the membership.

On foot of a recommendation from the chair of the most recent citizens' assembly, the terms of reference for each assembly have been designed so that they are sufficiently well defined to provide a clear focus for the assembly while at the same time not being so prescriptive as to inhibit the scope of the assemblies to define their work programmes as they deem appropriate.

The terms of reference for the citizens' assembly on biodiversity derive principally from the resolution passed by Dáil Éireann on 9 May 2019, which declared a climate and biodiversity emergency and called for the citizens' assembly to examine how the State can improve its response to the issue of biodiversity loss. The terms of reference for the Dublin citizens' assembly deliver on a commitment in the programme for Government to establish a citizens' assembly to consider the type of directly elected mayor and local government structures best suited for Dublin.

The decision to move ahead with two new assemblies and, for the first time, run them concurrently underscores the fact that citizens' assemblies are no longer merely an interesting experiment in deliberative democracy. Successive assemblies have amply demonstrated how the process enhances Ireland's democratic system. Engaging members of the general public in considering and proposing solutions to societal challenges not only makes a unique and valuable contribution to the deliberative processes for the Government and the Oireachtas but it also enhances the public sphere, where matters of public importance are debated, in turn raising public awareness and understanding of the matters under consideration. Molaim an tairscint seo do Seanad Éireann.