Citizens' convention plans due before Dáil

TAOISEACH ENDA Kenny is to introduce a resolution in the Dáil today for the establishment of the constitutional convention, with an initial budget of €300,000 for this year and a “relatively small” secretariat.

Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore will give the closing speech in the two-hour debate and the convention will report within two months on cutting the presidential term of office from seven down to five years and reducing the voting age to 17 years.

It is also proposed to examine the system of election to the Dáil; votes for citizens at Irish embassies abroad; same-sex marriage; amending the clause on women in the home; increasing women’s participation in politics; removing the offence of blasphemy from the Constitution.

The convention will also be free to consider “other relevant constitutional amendments” afterwards. The already-promised referendums on children’s rights and the abolition of the Seanad will not be under consideration.

The body will consist of “a representative group of 66 citizens”, 33 elected representatives from both parts of the island and an independent chair, but interest groups will be able to make submissions.

The Government envisages using the electoral register to select the 66 citizens. A polling company will be used to make the selection so that it is “as representative as possible”.

The group of politicians will be made up of Oireachtas members and one parliamentarian from each of the political parties in Northern Ireland which accept an invitation to be represented.

The Oireachtas membership – 33 minus the number of representatives from Northern Ireland – will be made up on the basis of current parliamentary numbers.

Travel and subsistence expenses of citizen members will be reimbursed and a website established, with provision for broadcasting the proceedings online “as required”.

A resolution will also go before the Seanad and the convention will be expected to submit its final report to the Houses of the Oireachtas within 12 months. The Belfast Agreement and the St Andrews Agreement will be “referred to in appropriate fashion in the establishing resolution”.

A Fianna Fáil spokesman said: “The terms of reference of the convention are an opportunity missed.

“The Government was elected on a mandate for real political change and what we’re seeing is just tinkering at the edges.

“The interaction between the Oireachtas and the Government and the role of the Oireachtas in holding the Government to account should have been a priority,” the spokesman added.

Sinn Féin has said the convention “must not prejudice the holding of a future referendum on Irish unity”.

The party also said the convention “must have the mandate to consider the broadest possible scope of matters”.

Sinn Féin supports “bringing proposals for a refreshed Constitution before the people in a referendum in 2016”.

Equality and human rights organisations including Amnesty International and the Irish Council for Civil Liberties have called for “fundamental human rights, including equal access to healthcare and housing” to be part of the convention’s remit.