Latest News
26 June
Assembly Votes in Favour of Gender Quotas
A National Citizens’ Assembly of over one hundred people representing a cross-section of Irish society has voted narrowly in favour of gender quotas in politics. Only 51% backed the government’s proposals to introduce penalties for political parties which do not field 30% of women candidates.
The citizens preferred the removal of barriers like childcare and unsocial working hours with 88% voting in favour of focussing on these kind of “soft” mechanisms. In the first assembly of its kind in this country, the particpants made a series of recommendations on making the institutions which govern us better suited to serving the people. The results will be collated over the next few days but already some preliminary findings have emerged.
The participants were randomly selected by the independent polling company IPSOS/MRBI. They represent every county and range from 18 years to 80.
During two days of deliberation with their fellow citizens, during which expert witnesses gave the pros and cons of issues, 52 percent of participants also supported the introduction of mandatory voting. They were also strongly in favour of retaining our PR-STV method of voting (74%).
On the role of the TD, the citizens were almost unaminous that local government should be strengthened to allow TDs to focus on national issues (97%). Some 65% of the participants voted for a reduction in the number of TDs. Only 34% were in favour of the introduction of electronic voting.
By two-thirds to one-third the assembly voted for the reform of the Seanad, rather than its abolition. A significant majority (76%) also want the Taoiseach to make use of the constitutional provision to appoint two Ministers with expertise from the Seanad. A proposal to appoint more unelected ministers to Cabinet for their expertise was carried by 48 % to 36% with 16% abstaining.
The assembly was hosted by We the Citizens Chairperson, Fiach Mac Conghail, who is also an independent Senator and Director of the Abbey Theatre.
Senator Mac Conghail told the Assembly members that while there was no doubt experts were needed in decision-making, there was enormous untapped expertise among the citizens of this country.
“The purpose of this weekend is to demonstrate to Government and to all of the political parties that engaging with citizens in between elections works, ” he said. “The have all promised new ways to engage citizens in political decision-making. We want to show them that this model can work, and that they should use it.”
Today, the assembly members also discussed the economic and social crisis and deliberated on whether the focus should be more on tax rises or spending cuts. The session heard voices criticizing the bail out.
The Assembly is being organised by We the Citizens, the independent initiative funded by Atlantic Philanthropies which aims to show the value to democracy of citizens being part of decision-making between elections. We the Citizens has already held seven citizens events around the country, to help inform the agenda of this national gathering which is being held in the Royal Hospital Kilmainham.
We the Citizens aims to demonstrate that this form of democratic engagement works; that when citizens are given objective information and time to deliberate with each other they make informed decisions on complex issues. It is a model that has been used successfully elsewhere in the world where it has been shown to enhance democracy and to restore trust in politics.
The Government and other political parties in the Oireachtas have all promised new ways to engage citizens in political decision-making between elections. The report of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on the Constitution recommended that a citizens’ assembly should be established to consider electoral reform. The programme for government talks about setting up a constitutional convention, which will include citizens as members.
We the Citizens’ executive director is Caroline Erskine and the academic director is David Farrell who is Professor of Politics in UCD. His academic colleagues on the team are Dr. Jane Suiter, UCC, Dr. Eoin O’Malley, DCU and Dr. Elaine Byrne, TCD. The initiative is endorsed by the Irish Universities Association.
