Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish first minister, recently promised to introduce a new Scottish independence referendum before the next Holyrood elections in 2021. That timeline is thought ambitious by many in Scotland, and for some her more significant announcement was that there would be a citizens’ assembly to debate “what kind of country are we seeking…
Guest post by Joseph Lacey, Assistant Professor, University College Dublin. EPA Joseph Lacey, University College Dublin Remainers continue to push for a people’s vote on the UK government’s Brexit deal and, of course, they have a point. How exactly the British people wanted to leave the EU, when they voted to leave it over two…
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…
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…
Donal O’Brolchain reviews pre/post- election developments on direct democracy The February 2016 election continues a pattern of nearly 50 years ie. voters have not re-elected an outgoing government. Since 1969, this has happened once in 2002. Despite Ireland’s undoubted successes (eg. joining the EU, a rising population and workforce) over these years, we…
Originally posted on The Constitution Unit Blog:
During the EU referendum debate it has often been asserted that people tend to be risk averse and so vote against change in referendums. But does the evidence justify this claim? Stephen Fisher and Alan Renwick have collected data on over 250 national referendums held since 1990 and found that the change option…
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 we’d…
I’m currently reading José Saramago’s Seeing (a gift from a former student), which tells the story of how panic sets in among a city’s political classes after the vast bulk of the citizens cast a blank ballot in an election. It’s a great read, though I have to admit I thought the storyline a bit…
The marriage referendum was an emotional roller-coaster. The reports of thousands taking boats and flights home to vote in the marriage referendum were heart-lifting. Ursula Halligan’s revelation in the last week of the marriage referendum campaign that she had hidden her sexuality from everyone, including at times herself was heart-breaking. She cited the referendum campaign…
Irish Politics Forum 