Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats)
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239. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills when the Citizens' Assembly on education committed to in the programme for Government is expected to take place. [35001/21]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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I am very pleased to see the inclusion of a Citizens’ Assembly on the future of education in the Programme for Government. Experience internationally and here at home of citizen’s assemblies as exercises in deliberative democracy have been extremely positive.

Ireland is considered a leader in the use of deliberative democracy processes, having convened three in recent years: the Convention on the Constitution (2012-14), the Citizens’ Assembly (2016-18) and the Citizen’s Assembly on Gender Equality (2019-2021).

Typically, Citizens' Assemblies have been established by individual Oireachtas Resolutions, which have set out their terms of reference. I understand that initial proposals to hold a citizens' assembly on education have been informed by proposals from the Burren College of Art, which called for the Assembly to examine issues such as how to properly position post-primary education for the 21st century and how to encourage greater creativity, student agency and resilience.

My recently published Statement of Strategy 2021-2023incorporates priority actions for the Department from the Programme for Government, including exploring the scope for a Citizen’s Assembly on the Future of Education. Officials in my Department are working on developing a consultation proposal and will work with colleagues in the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Skills to advance this.