Internationally Ireland is seen as a beacon in the development of deliberative democracy. There has been plenty of positive hype (not least in international media coverage) about the outcomes of the 2018 abortion and 2015 marriage equality referendums that followed recommendations by the Irish Citizens’ Assembly (or CA, that operated between 2016-18) and Irish Constitutional…
Over on the excellent British blog site Democratic Audit, Jack Bridgewater from the University of Kent cast an eye over the campaign that led to the decision to repeal the 8th amendment last month in this post. His focus is on the process that led up to the referendum and, particularly, the role of the…
The long-anticipated referendum on repealing the 8th amendment, known by proponents and opponents alike at the time of its initial adoption as the ‘pro-life amendment’, has delivered a result widely and understandably described as ‘seismic’, ‘historic’ and ‘momentous’. In a high turnout (64%, second among standalone referendums only to the 1972 vote on EC entry…
By Michael Gallagher The expectation was that the same-sex marriage referendum would deliver a comfortable Yes and the vote on reducing the minimum age for the president an equally decisive No, and that’s just how it worked out. The latter achieved the distinction of delivering the lowest Yes vote (only 27 per cent) of any…
A Northern Ireland government is collapsed this week and no one really cared. Although RTÉ despatched Bryan Dobson to Belfast, the latest crisis didn’t sustain interest: Dobbo was back in the comfort of the Montrose studios the following day. The paltry turnout in the House of Commons for a debate on it shows that the…
The inaugural meeting of the new Irish Citizens’ Assembly was held in Dublin Castle last Saturday. Its establishment and the fact that it follows in the wake of the 2012-14 Constitutional Convention marks Ireland out as a world first in the repeated use of a ‘mini-public’ (deliberative) approach to constitutional review, an approach that includes…
Guest post by Ken Carty (University of British Columbia) The pundits and editorial writers have worked themselves up over a bill to provide for abortions in the case of private members fetal abnormalities – a bill that may never pass out of the Oireachtas. The behavior of some ministers, we are told, ignores the constitution…
So the United Kingdom has voted to leave the European Union. After much wailing and gnashing of teeth, the EU will see to remove any vestiges of the United Kingdom with as much haste as a fractious domestic separation.Well no, it’s not going to be that simple. First, the United Kingdom does not have a…
One of the side deals done in the attempts to form a government was the idea to send the issue of the 8th amendment to the Constitution to a citizens’ assembly. Convening a convention is a good and practical idea, because it takes issues that politicians can’t agree on off the table. Any suitable issues…
A (still very preliminary) reaction to the Programme for Government proposal that was launched this afternoon (available here). There is a lot of food for thought here. A lot of interesting proposals – at least on paper – and also some daft ones. Certainly a lot to chew over. A fair bit of things that…
Irish Politics Forum 