The Assembly met across five weekends to deliberate the country’s 8th Constitutional Amendment which defends the right to life. The Assembly’s recommendations by majority vote were essentially to repeal or replace the amendment.
Background History and Context
The Citizens’ Assembly was established by a resolution approved by the Irish Parliament in July 2016, following a commitment made by the newly elected government in its Programme for Government. Its work concluded in the late spring of 2018. The Assembly followed the model of the 2012–2014 Irish Constitutional Convention, comprising 99 randomly selected citizens and an independent chair, a Supreme Court judge. A major change to the previous model was the removal of politicians from the membership, which was probably the result of a tradeoff which saw abortion included in the agenda. The Assembly was tasked with considering five key issues: abortion, the challenges and opportunities of an aging population, fixed-term parliaments, the manner in which referenda are held, and how the state could position Ireland as a leader in tackling climate change. These topics were chosen partly due to Fine Gael’s election commitments, international pressure and negotiations between coalition partners (Farrell et al., 2019). It functioned with the same key principles as the Convention: openness, fairness, equality of voice, efficiency, respect and collegiality.
The Citizens’ Assembly was established by a resolution of the Irish Parliament in July 2016 (The Citizens’ Assembly, n.d.), following a commitment in the newly elected government’s Programme for Government (here). Its inaugural meeting was held on October 15, 2016, (see more) and its work concluded in late spring 2018. Modeled on the 2012–2014 Irish Constitutional Convention, the Assembly comprised 99 randomly selected citizens and an independent chair, a Supreme Court judge. A key distinction from the previous model was the exclusion of politicians from the membership—the result of a tradeoff that facilitated the inclusion of abortion on the agenda.
The Assembly was tasked with examining five key issues: abortion, the challenges and opportunities of an aging population, fixed-term parliaments, the conduct of referenda, and Ireland’s role in addressing climate change. These topics were influenced by Fine Gael’s election pledges, international pressures, and coalition negotiations. Meetings were livestreamed, and public submissions were invited (Farrell et al., 2019). The Assembly was originally expected to complete its work within a year of its first meeting; however, this deadline was extended in October 2017 and again in March 2018, ultimately concluding on 27 April 2018 (The Citizens’ Assembly, n.d.). The government formally responded to each of the Assembly’s reports.
The Assembly was funded by the Department of the Taoiseach, with total costs reaching €2,355,557 by March 2019 (Department of the Taoiseach, 2019). It operated under the same guiding principles as the Convention: openness, fairness, equality of voice, efficiency, respect, and collegiality.
The Eighth Amendment of the Constitution
The Eighth Amendment to the Irish Constitution, enacted in 1983, created one of the most restrictive abortion law regimes in the world. The amendment inserted Article 40.3.3, which recognized the “right to life of the unborn” and mandated the state to protect it with equal regard to the “right to life of the mother.” This provision effectively constitutionalized a near-total ban on abortion (De Londras & Markicevic, 2018).
Abortion had been criminalized in Ireland since the foundation of the state, initially under Section 58 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861, a law inherited from British rule. This provision remained in place until it was replaced by Section 22 of the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act 2013, which reduced the maximum penalty for illegal abortion from life imprisonment to up to 14 years. However, the 2013 law maintained the longstanding legal structure: abortion was criminalized in almost all cases, the narrow exceptions being a real and substantial risk to the life of the pregnant person or where the fetus was non-viable. As a result, many were forced to travel abroad for care, while others resorted to illegal self-managed abortions.
As legal challenges to Ireland’s abortion laws mounted, the Irish government faced increasing pressure from international human rights bodies, calling on Ireland to bring its laws in line with international standards (McMahon & Ghráinne, 2017). By the 2016 general election, abortion had become a central political issue, fueled by high-profile cases (De Londras & Markicevic, 2018). Most major political parties acknowledged the need for constitutional change, though they differed on how to proceed. Fine Gael’s election manifesto proposed the establishment of a Citizens’ Assembly to deliberate on the issue, while other parties—including Sinn Féin, Labour, the Green Party, and the Social Democrats—advocated for outright repeal of the Eighth Amendment, followed by legislation to provide for legal abortion.
Structure of the Convention
Membership selection
The Citizens’ Assembly was designed as a deliberative mini-public and consisted of 99 members who were selected randomly from the wider population. The selection process, conducted by the market research company RED C (RTE, 2016), was stratified across four demographic categories: sex, age, social class, and region. Recruitment involved door-to-door cold calling, ensuring that the final group reflected the diversity of Irish society. In addition to the primary members, 99 substitute members were also selected (Farrell et al., 2019).
Governance
Chairperson
The Chairperson was responsible for running the Convention and engaging necessary support services for its effective administration. As the main moderator, the Chairperson was selected by the Prime Minister (Taoiseach) and was independent. They had direction and control over the staff of the secretariat and other resources available, subject to the wishes of the Convention. The Chairperson also made recommendations on the management of business as needed.
Due to the controversial nature of the issue of abortion, the Citizens’ Assembly was chaired by a Supreme Court judge, protecting its deliberation and results from accusation of bias and safeguarding the impartiality of the proceedings.
Secretary and Secretariat
The Secretary and Secretariat were responsible for handling the logistics of the assembly, ensuring the smooth operation of the Convention. The assembly's secretariat was drawn from the Prime Minister’s (Taoiseach) Department.
Expert Advisory Panel
The Oireachtas resolution establishing the Assembly states that “an Expert Advisory Group will be established to assist the work of the Assembly in terms of preparing information and advice.” The Expert Advisory Group’s Terms of Reference are available here.
The main roles of the Expert Advisory Group included:
- Supporting the Chair and Secretariat in constructing a fair, balanced, and comprehensive work programme for the Assembly on each topic.
- Providing background expert advice on the issues being discussed.
- Advising on the criteria for selecting specialists/experts to appear before the Assembly.
- Recommending names for the specialists/experts to appear before the Assembly, for ratification by the Steering Group.
- Working with the Chair and Secretariat to select speakers from civil society and advocacy groups.
The composition of the Expert Advisory Group changed during the lifetime of the Assembly, adapting to the topics under discussion.
First Expert Advisory Panel
For the discussion on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution, the Expert Advisory Group included specialists in political and social science, constitutional law and theory, medical law and ethics, as well as medicine and obstetrics. The members were Dr. Elizabeth Dunn, Oran Doyle (Trinity College Dublin), John Garry (Queen’s University Belfast), Prof. Declan Keane, Prof. Deirdre Madden (University College Cork), Tom Walker (Queen’s University Belfast), and Rachael Walsh (Trinity College Dublin).
Steering Group
Following the rules and procedures, a Steering Group was formed to ensure the efficient and effective operation of the Assembly, contributing to planning, coordinating logistical matters, and supporting the overall work programme. The group consisted of the Chairperson and a representative selection of Assembly Members, who were elected by their peers. Their Terms of Reference are available here.
Structure of plenary session
Proceedings
The Citizens’ Assembly dedicated five weekends to examining the Eighth Amendment. The structure of the meetings was designed to ensure informed and balanced deliberation, incorporating insights from diverse fields such as legal studies, medical ethics, social science, and constitutional law. Expert speakers provided analysis, while advocacy groups and personal testimonies allowed members to consider a range of perspectives.
Each weekend built upon previous discussions, progressively deepening members’ understanding of the legal, medical, ethical, and social implications of abortion laws in Ireland. The meetings were structured to include expert presentations, facilitated small-group discussions, question-and-answer sessions, and private reflection periods. Conversation starters were used to guide discussions, ensuring that deliberations remained focused and inclusive.
The final weekend was dedicated to voting. Members cast their votes via secret ballot on whether Article 40.3.3° should be retained, repealed, or amended. The results showed a strong majority in favor of repealing the Eighth Amendment, with additional recommendations supporting access to abortion under specific circumstances. These findings were made public and significantly influenced the national referendum held in May 2018, which resulted in the repeal of the Eighth Amendment.
- 26-27 November 2016: First Meeting on the Eighth Amendment (see more);
- 7-8 January 2017: Second Meeting on the Eighth Amendment (see more);
- 4-5 February 2017: Third Meeting on the Eighth Amendment (see more);
- 4-5 March 2017: Fourth Meeting on the Eighth Amendment (see more);
- 22-23 April 2017: Final Meeting on the Eighth Amendment and Voting (see more).
Public Submissions Process
The Citizens’ Assembly invited public submissions on the Eighth Amendment from 14 October to 16 December 2016, receiving approximately 13,075 responses. Submissions were welcomed from individuals and organisations both in Ireland and abroad, with clear guidelines to ensure transparency and respectful discourse. Of the total received, around 12,200 were published on the Assembly's website. Submissions were excluded from publication if they were anonymous, duplicative, offensive, irrelevant, or if there was a request to remove an individual submission.
To incorporate public input into deliberations, a random sample of 300 submissions was circulated to members ahead of the February meeting, and dedicated sessions were held to review and discuss them. A significant number of members actively engaged with the submissions online, with many reading dozens of contributions. The March meeting focused heavily on insights drawn from the submissions process, including personal testimonies and presentations from 17 advocacy and representative groups.
Voting and ballots
The final weekend of the Citizens’ Assembly was structured around a detailed voting process designed to reflect the members’ considered opinions on the Eighth Amendment. Voting was conducted by secret ballot, with oversight from an independent returning officer to ensure transparency and integrity.
The ballots proceeded in a sequential manner, meaning that the results of earlier votes influenced subsequent questions. The key outcomes were:
- Ballot 1: 79% of members voted that Article 40.3.3° should not be retained in full.
- Ballot 2: 50% of members voted that Article 40.3.3° should be replaced or amended rather than removed entirely.
- Ballot 3: 51% of members voted in favor of replacing Article 40.3.3° with a constitutional provision explicitly authorizing the Oireachtas to legislate on abortion.
- Ballot 4B: 64% of members supported making termination of pregnancy lawful without restriction. Of this group:
- 48% supported a gestational limit of 12 weeks.
- 44% supported a gestational limit of 22 weeks.
- 8% supported no gestational limit.
The Assembly also made ancillary recommendations, calling for improvements in reproductive healthcare services, access to contraception, perinatal hospice care, and comprehensive sexual health education. These recommendations were included in the first report submitted to the government. The report is available here.
Recommendation and Government response
The Citizens’ Assembly recommended:
- Article 40.3.3° should not be retained in full.
- Article 40.3.3° should be replaced or amended.
- Article 40.3.3° should be replaced with a constitutional provision explicitly authorizing the Oireachtas to legislate to address termination of pregnancy, any rights of the unborn, and any rights of the pregnant woman.
- Termination of pregnancy should be lawful without restriction, with varying gestational limits proposed:
- Up to 12 weeks.
- Up to 22 weeks.
- No restriction to gestational age.
The Assembly further recommended that abortion should be permitted under specific circumstances, including:
- Real and substantial physical risk to the life of the woman.
- Real and substantial risk to the life of the woman by suicide.
- Serious risk to the physical or mental health of the woman.
- Pregnancy resulting from rape.
- Foetal abnormalities likely or unlikely to result in death before or shortly after birth.
- Socio-economic reasons.
In addition to the legal recommendations, the Assembly made broader policy recommendations related to reproductive healthcare and education. These included:
- Improvements in sexual health and relationship education, including contraception and consent, in schools, colleges, and youth organizations.
- Improved access to reproductive healthcare services, including family planning, contraception, perinatal hospice care, and abortion services.
- Equal access to obstetric care, including early scanning and testing, regardless of geographic location or socio-economic status.
- Enhanced counselling and support services for pregnant women, including post-abortion care.
- Further consideration of how abortion services should be funded and provided in Ireland.
Government response
Following the publication of the Citizens’ Assembly report, the Oireachtas established a Joint Committee on the Eighth Amendment to further examine the recommendations. The committee conducted hearings and produced its own report in December 2017, with some dissenting opinions from pro-life members. In January 2018, the government announced its decision to implement the committee's recommendations.
As a result, the Thirty-sixth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland was put to a national referendum on 25 May 2018. The amendment, which replaced the constitutional prohibition on abortion with a provision allowing the Oireachtas to legislate on the matter, was approved by a majority vote. Subsequently, the Oireachtas passed the Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act 2018, legalizing and regulating abortion services.
Influence, Outcomes, and Effects
Importantly, the first Citizens' Assembly had two major effects: first, it allowed politicians to understand public opinion on the issue before committing to a referendum and a binding legislative decision. Fine Gael — the ruling party since 2011 — has supported the Citizens' Assembly from its beginnings and so took seriously its recommendations. It was not a coincidence that the legislative decision following the referendum was the same as that forwarded by the Citizens' Assembly a year earlier.[2] As well, by treating the Assembly's decision as representative of wider public opinion, Fine Gael was able to preemptively support the amendment's repeal. The party was congratulated later for both its use of deliberative consultation in the legislative process and for supporting policy that is supported by the public as opposed to minority opinion. Indeed, following the referendum, David Farrell, University College Dublin professor of politics, remarked that the Assembly "proved invaluable in acquainting the political classes with the fact that the Irish public had become much more liberal in recent decades."[3]
On the other side, opposition party members and anti-abortion activists largely dismissed the Assembly's findings and attempted to undermine its credibility. The "No" vote ('no' to a repeal of the 8th Amendment which criminalizes abortion) pursued a campaign of graphic imagery and religious reasoning to try and sway voters. According to Ronan McGreevy in the Irish Times, "The No campaign’s criticisms of the assembly were a serious mistake. If it had listened, they would have realised that the majority were repelled by the use of images of the unborn, and unmoved by religious arguments. Ireland had a problem with abortion. Solutions were needed."[3]
Second, the Citizens' Assembly appears to have been welcomed by the majority of the population as a fair and reliable process of public consultation. Despite denouncements by anti-abortion activists and some opposition party members — such as calling the process "rigged" and "unrepresentative" — the public seems to have had faith in the Assembly as both a publicly-representative body and as a source of unbiased information and advice.[4]
Analysis and Lessons Learned
See Also
The Irish Citizens' Assembly (Parent Case)
The Irish Citizens' Assembly (Organization)
Participatory Democracy Pilot 'We the Citizens'
The Irish Constitutional Convention
Referendum on the Thirty-sixth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland
References
[1] The Citizens' Assembly, "About the Citizens' Assembly", https://www.citizensassembly.ie/en/what-we-do/
[2] Rónán Duffy, "Analysis: Six reasons why Ireland was a landslide Yes for repeal," The Journal.ie, May 26, 2018, https://www.thejournal.ie/reason-ireland-yes-repeal-4034286-May2018/
[3] Ronan McGreevy, "The Citizens’ Assembly – a canny move on the road to repeal," The Irish Times, May 27, 2018, https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/the-citizens-assembly...
[4] Ronan McGreevy, "‘When I heard the result I thought, Wow, I’m partially responsible for this’," The Irish Times, May 27, 2018, https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/when-i-heard-the-resu...
External Links
Official Website https://www.citizensassembly.ie/en/
