Sir, – While it would be great to see the work of the constitutional convention finally begin (Home News, June 6th), I am sceptical that the format the Government is proposing will give us an opportunity for meaningful change.
Proposed topics such as same-sex marriage and repealing the blasphemy law are important issues, but they’re hardly central to the dysfunction at the heart of our political system.
The Government plans to spend the first two months deliberating the relatively minor issues of lowering the voting age and reducing the term of the presidency. Its rationale for this is peculiar as it claims it will serve as a test-run to establish the working methods of the convention. But why would it do this when it could just adopt a proven successful template from elsewhere? It has the experience of plenty of other citizen assemblies to draw upon from countries such as Canada, Brazil, the Netherlands and Iceland.
We should have a constitutional convention that could properly examine the appointment and operation of the Dáil, the Cabinet, Seanad, presidency, judiciary, Civil Service and local government. It should also be free to consider mechanisms to facilitate more public participation in the decision-making process. I call upon the Government to revise its template for the constitutional convention. – Yours, etc,