The Government has proposed that two thirds of the membership of its proposed constitutional convention be chosen from the electoral register in a meeting with Opposition parties. 

The Convention is set to look at proposals to legalise same-sex marriage, removing the clause which refers to women in the home and removing the offence of blasphemy, among others.

Fianna Fáil, Sinn Féin and the technical group were issued with a three-page document by Taoiseach Enda Kenny at a meeting in Government Buildings on the proposed convention this week, according to an Irish Times report.

The document stated that it was part of the formal consultation with the Opposition on the Government’s draft plans.

“The Taoiseach will report their views to Government before any decisions are finalised,” the text states.

The document envisages Oireachtas resolutions providing for the convention to submit its final report to the Dáil and Seanad “within 12 months of its establishment”.

It is pointed out that the Programme for Government sets out “a programme of topics” for the convention “and the Government does not propose to depart from that”.

The document points out there are already commitments to hold referendums on children’s rights and abolishing the Seanad.

The convention would be asked to report within two months of its establishment on reducing the presidential term and the voting age. There could be “different streams” to speed up the convention’s work but “any recommendations should be agreed in plenary session”.

It is proposed that there would be 100 members, of whom 66 would be “ordinary citizens”.

A further 33 would 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 would be made up on the basis of “parliamentary numbers”.

The Government envisages using the electoral register to select the 66 ordinary citizens.

According to Government sources, the establishment of the convention had been “agreed in principle” by Ministers last week but that the Cabinet saw Opposition support as critical to its success.