Why Citizens’ Assembly is a vital part of our democracy
HAVING spoken to members of the Citizens’ Assembly and its predecessor the Constitutional Convention, I am firmly of the belief that ‘deliberative democracy’, the term used to describe the bottom-up discussion process being adopted to debate reform to our Constitution, is a very worthwhile and, above all, trustworthy addition to our national discourse.
Back at the time of the seminal 2011 general election – in the aftermath of the economic collapse when trust in the political system was at an all-time low – political reform featured as a dominant theme in the manifestos of all political parties. That election is primarily remembered as the decimation of Fianna Fáil – the party went from 77 seats to 20 in its biggest defeat ever.
The vilified ‘political elite’ were keen to show that they were open to the idea of greater citizen involvement in efforts to redesign Ireland’s representative institutions. However, even at that stage politicians were not overly keen to step out of the limelight – so they set up the Constitutional Convention, with 66 selected citizens, 33 members of the Oireachtas and an independent chairperson.
Despite some grandstanding from publicity-hungry politicians, this convention turned out to be a very worthwhile project and paved the way for the successful 2015 marriage equality referendum.
At the same time a group of civicminded activists and academics set up the We The Citizens project, again born out of the economic collapse, touring the country to gather opinions and culminating in a ‘National Citizens’ Assembly’ in June 2011. In retrospect this was a noble and worthwhile project.
Its deliberations have produced some fascinating results – proving that well-moderated discussion, debate and an open-minded approach to serious issues can lead to progress and agreement in a democracy. Issues dealt with included the proposed sale of State assets – after debate, support for this idea plummeted from 48% to 10%, whereas support for property charges rose from 40% to 56% and backing for water charges increased from 60% to 85%. Can you imagine the backlash and abuse from the Twitterati if those results were announced today?
The members of the Citizens’ Assembly I spoke to this week only reaffirmed my belief in the seriousness and purpose of those involved. Meeting for two days every month since last October, no one can question the commitment and effort of the 99 citizens – a representative group selected scientifically by the very reputable polling company Red C.
Listening to the deliberations of the Citizens’ Assembly last weekend, I was struck by how it compared with an Oireachtas committee set up to deal with another divisive issue – the allparty committee on water charges. The Oireachtas committee’s deliberations ended as this whole debate had begun: lumping water charges with generation taxation.
The description of the committee’s workings from its chairman, Senator Pádraig Ó Céidigh, was most dispiriting. Ó Céidigh – a successful businessman – praised his fellow politicians for their ‘hard work’, but he was upset at the ‘high degree of mistrust and point-scoring’, as well as the tweeting during private meetings and the grandstanding for the cameras in public sessions.
Ó Céidigh also said it was ‘strange and disappointing’ that an ‘essential’ presentation he had organised by 15 senior managers and engineers from Irish Water – ‘they made me proud to be Irish’ – was attended by just four of the 20 politicians on the committee.
The Citizens’ Assembly is a very worthwhile addition to our democratic institutions; I for one will be closely following its deliberations – and whether I agree or disagree with its recommendations, maybe it will help me check my own prejudices.