Final call for submissions to Citizens’ Assembly on Eight Amendment

Submissions can be made online at www.citizensassembly.ie or by post to the offices of the Assembly, 16 Parnell Square, Dublin 1. To date, the Assembly has received over 2,000 submissions on the topic of the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution.

All submissions received by the Assembly will be published on its website on a rolling basis from 16 December. Submissions will be categorised by the name of the individual or the name of the organisation and, in the case of personal stories or sensitive submissions, personal data and related identifiable details can be removed on request.

Following receipt of submissions, and in accordance with the rules and procedures establishing the Assembly, it may choose to hear oral presentations from any representative group or individual to assist in its deliberations.

The next meeting of the Assembly takes place on 7-8 January 2017. This will be the second meeting to discuss the topic of the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution and it is expected that four weekends in total will be given over to the topic.

Chair of the Assembly Ms Justice Mary Laffoy commented: “The submissions the Assembly receives are very important in the ongoing development of the work programme and I would encourage individuals, representative groups, citizen organisations and members of the public to make a submission.

“The first Assembly meeting on the topic of the Eighth Amendment was extremely insightful and provided a critical foundation to the Assembly’s work, outlining the current situation regarding abortion in Ireland. As we progress further we know that the number of topics and the range of perspectives to be considered is vast and therefore I would appeal to everyone with an interest in this topic to engage with our submissions process and help inform the work of the Assembly.”