This case study is part of a series supporting the toolkit for communicators on citizen participation. Read the full toolkit for communicators supporting citizen participation. The toolkit was created by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Innovative, Digital and Open Governance (INDIGO) Division in collaboration with UK Government Communications.
Process
In 2016, the Irish Government committed to the establishment of a Citizens’ Assembly with a mandate to look at a limited number of key issues. To broadly represent society, 99 Assembly members were chosen at random, using census data, to reflect the Irish population in terms of age, gender, social class and geography. They were tasked with carrying out a clear mandate: to make recommendations and produce reports that would inform policy-makers’ decisions.
Assembly members spent five weekends deliberating over the course of five months, between November 2016 and April 2017. They heard from people across all sides of the abortion debate. These included medical, legal and ethical specialists as well as people giving personal testimonies about their experiences. Members were also given the opportunity to deliberate amongst themselves, and to listen and reflect on the views of others in the room.
In parallel, the wider public was also able to access much of the same information that the Assembly members did. For example, many of the expert contributions and speeches to the Assembly were streamed online. Submissions made to the Assembly were made publicly available, as were the Assembly’s recommendations. These resources became a valuable asset to the wider public in the lead-up to a referendum on the Eighth Amendment in 2018.
One of the Assembly’s recommendations entailed amending the Irish constitution to repeal the Eighth Amendment, which recognised the right to life of the unborn, thus making abortion in Ireland illegal except for very limited exceptions. Additionally, the Assembly recommended legalising abortion without restrictions up to certain gestation limits.
Role of communications
The Citizens’ Assembly was organised by an independent secretariat, not directly managed by government, ensuring political neutrality throughout the process. The secretariat, led by civil servants on temporary leave from their regular duties, handled logistics, publications and external communications, while maintaining operational independence from government direction. A Steering Group – comprising the Chairperson and a subset of citizen members – worked alongside the secretariat to guide the process. Therefore, while civil servants’ communications skills were used in the process, the government stayed at arm’s length from the activities by having them take leave from their normal roles.
Outcome
The Joint Committee on the Eighth Amendment presented its report on the findings of the Assembly to the Oireachtas, Ireland’s parliament, which debated it. It was quickly followed by the Eighth Amendment Referendum Bill, which paved the way for the referendum. The referendum and Assembly produced strikingly similar results on the topic. In the Assembly, 64% voted in favour of “terminations without restrictions”, and in the referendum, 66.4% voted in favour of repealing the Eighth Amendment – effectively legalising abortion in Ireland.