[1]Former Taoiseach John Bruton has said that a citizens’ assembly to examine the issue of abortion in Ireland is no substitute for the Oireachtas in making a decision about such a controversial topic.
Speaking to The Irish Catholic newspaper in the wake of the announcement by Taoiseach Enda Kenny that he will reconvene the constitutional convention in order for it to deliberate on the Eighth Amendment, which protects the right to life of the unborn, Mr Bruton stressed that “it is important in the interest of accountability that the elected members are given an opportunity to deal with these issues in a systematic way themselves.
“I say this because elected representatives, unlike citizens chosen at random, are accountable and are accountable in a very meaningful way through the process of having to be re-elected,” he explained.
Insisting that he has “no problem with supplementing existing parliamentary processes for policy determination with other additional methods” such as citizens’ assemblies, Mr Bruton added that in relation to the specific assembly announced for the abortion question “at this stage we don’tknow if it is to be used in any way replacing proper parliamentary consideration”. He went on to insist that normal legislative procedures shouldprecede any supplementary assemblies. Green and white papers, he said, provide“an informed framework in which eventual decisions might be taken whether by the Dáil and Seanad alone through committees of those bodies, or by the Dáiland Seanad with the aid of any other additional assemblies that might be contemplated”.
“The point is that the process of green and white paperswould require one to analyse things in a much more structured way,” he said, “which should improve the quality of the eventual decision.
“I think in a democracy it’s important not just to know your own opinion but to try to understand the opinions of other people,” he said.
Mr Bruton has been a vocal opponent of moves to repeal the Constitution’s 8th Amendment.