Latest News
19 June
The Citizens’ Assembly – June 25th / 26th
The National Citizens’ Assembly will take place on Saturday June 25th and Sunday June 26th in the Royal Hospital Kilmainham. The assembly will be made of over 100 Irish people representing a cross-section of society and coming from every province in Ireland. They will have been selected randomly by IPSOS MRBI – an independent polling company.
A Citizens’ Assembly is a way in which citizens can recapture trust in the political system by taking ownership of the decision making process. It is a form of deliberative democracy that has had very positive results in many parts of the world.
It involves rational, reasoned discussion amongst a representative cross-section of the population, based on objective briefing notes and the ability to question expert witnesses. It is not adversarial, although disagreement is inevitable and is valued – not stifled.
A Citizens’ Assembly values creativity and tends to build consensus rather than seeking winning and losing sides – but there is no requirement of unanimity. Deliberative processes are not meant to replace representative or direct democracy, but to enhance and support it.
If Ireland were to constitute a citizen assembly it would mean the people could be asked about their views on policy decisions, rather than only having a say at periodic elections.
“This national assembly, which will be run according to international best practice, will be the first real opportunity for citizens to consider the future governance of our Republic. It will also show to all of us and to the Oireachtas how citizens can manage complex and important policy issues and take an informed view on them”, said Fiach Mac Conghail, Chairman of ‘We the Citizens’. “It has worked successfully in other countries and I believe it could provide an important new model for citizen-led democratic engagement in this country.”
“All the political parties in the Oireachtas have made significant promises to lead and implement political reform,” said Mr Mac Conghail. “Before the Dáil breaks for the summer we will demonstrate to the government and all the political parties that the citizens’ assembly model is a proven way to reconnect Irish citizens to politics to the benefit of the country as a whole.”
Professor David Farrell, Academic Director of We the Citizens, explains that citizens’ assemblies have been used successfully in other countries. “They are a new and innovative way of allowing citizens to be actively involved in taking important decisions that affect our daily lives. Citizens are given the opportunity to be informed, to consider and debate all side of an argument: they are able then to take decisions on what are often quite complex issues,” he said.
“Citizens’ assemblies are a tried and tested method of giving citizens the opportunity to engage directly in important decisions about their own political system.”
“I have some personal experience of this, having participated as an expert witness to a number of them (in British Columbia, Ontario and the Netherlands), and I’m delighted that we have the opportunity to demonstrate how this method can also work here”, added Professor Farrell.
Across Ireland, hundreds of people have met at We the Citizens’ events to discuss how we can renew our country. The prominent themes that have emerged at these events have helped to shape the national citizens’ assembly agenda.
