The Green Party has called on Minister Eoghan Murphy to live up to a speech he made in 2014 and back the recommendations of the Citizens’ Assembly on changes to the way referendums are held.
Today, the Citizens’ Assembly recommended to allow votes for Irish people working abroad, to empower citizens to directly call for a referendum, and to hold referendums with more than one option, among a raft of other measures.
The Oireachtas resolution establishing the Assembly requires the Government to provide a response in the Dáil to each of its recommendations and set out a timeframe for the holding of a referendum, if needed. In 2014, Minister Murphy criticised the way the Government ignored the recommendations of the Constitutional Convention on ways to change to the voting system, many of which were repeated by the Citizens’ Assembly today.
Speaking after the Citizens’ Assembly voted on its recommendations, Oliver Moran, the Green Party spokesperson on political reform said:
“We’re happy that many of the suggestions we made in our submission have now been backed by the Citizens’ Assembly, but the hard work of convincing the Government to let go of power will now begin again. The Constitutional Convention already made many of the recommendations the Citizens Assembly did today. For example, on the setting up of an Electoral Commission, allowing voters to call a referendum, and making it easier to vote, including for Irish people working abroad.”
“Eoghan Murphy made an impassioned speech about this in 2014 and was critical of the way the Government ignored the recommendations then. Words he used then included ‘cherry picking’ and asking if the Government were treating it all as an ‘academic exercise’. Now he’s the minister responsible and all eyes will be on him to see if he lives up to the conviction he showed as a backbencher then and back the Citizens’ Assembly today.”
Next, the Citizens’ Assembly will consider whether to set the number of years between Dáil elections, taking away the power of the Taoiseach to call a snap election.
Text of Eoghan Murphy’s speech in 2014 is available here.
YouTube video of the speech available here.
