“In Ireland, associating a citizens’ convention with the referendum contributes to an informed decision”

2023-12-15 19:15:13

How was the idea of ​​associating a citizens’ convention with the referendum in Ireland born?

The organization of a referendum is obligatory as soon as the Irish Constitution is touched. This dating from 1937, it has needed to be revised over the years, due to the evolution of society. In 2011, political science researcher David Farrell launched a university citizens’ convention project to deliberate on changes to it. This idea interested the government, and a first official convention started in 2012.

For a year, sixty-six citizens chosen by lot to be representative of society and thirty-three parliamentarians met over ten weekends to deliberate on marriage, the place of women, the age of the right to vote …There were farmers and mothers there, from all over Ireland, who had never had the opportunity to look so closely at their Constitution.

Two referendums were finally successful, one on the legalization of marriage for all [2015] and the other against the ban on blasphemy [2018]. A second convention, organized from 2016 to 2018, and this time composed only of citizens, led to the referendum on the legalization of abortion [2018]. The other recommendations did not provoke a reaction from the government, apart from that on climate change, which ultimately resulted in the adoption of a bill [la Climate Bill] in 2021. We are now at the sixth convention.

Do these measures improve, in your opinion, the democratic process which leads to the decision?

For attendees, conventions are great lessons in civics. They discuss with experts, deliberate, seek compromises before formulating their recommendations. During the referendum, the brochure distributed in letterboxes clearly explains the consequences of yes and no. There is also the old and new proposed text of the Constitution. All of this contributes to an informed decision. With the proliferation of conventions, however, we are seeing a certain lack of public interest in the debates. There is currently a citizens’ assembly on drug use, and when I talked to my students about it, none of them knew about it.

The process is not without filter. The government selects the recommendations it wants to keep. The proposed changes are then passed through the referendum commission and then approved by Parliament before being submitted to a referendum. A significant number of recommendations are not followed up, even if some are nevertheless implemented through legislation.

You have 30% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.