Jul
13
2016
Citizens Assembly Motion
In June, the Government tabled a motion to create the Citizen’s Assembly, which will deliberate on a number of political issues – including the future of the Eighth Amendment. I believe that the timeline of the process for a decision on the amendment’s future is extraordinarily lax and could eventually result in two years passing before a referendum is called.
I tabled an amendment to the motion that would have imposed a six-month time frame on the delivery of the recommendations on the Eighth Amendment and action on those recommendations by the Oireachtas. Despite another government defeat of my amendment, it received cross-party support and caused the government to provide a detailed justification for their envisaged timeframe. This is an issue that I will continue to be active on in the coming months as the Citizens’ Assembly begins its deliberations.
The motion and my amendments can be viewed here.
