In 2018, Ireland voted in a referendum to legalise abortion. Irish politics had been debating this divisive and emotive issue for decades, however the Irish citizens’ assembly, which deliberated on the matter prior to the referendum, was cited as a successful process in helping people understand the complex issues.

The citizens’ assembly was established in 2016 by parliament and its purpose was to deliberate on a number of issues, including the eighth amendment that outlawed abortion. The 99 citizen members of the assembly were selected to be electorally representative and included those in favour of the change, those against and those undecideds. Over the course of five weekends, between the end of 2016 and early 2017, the assembly listened to people on all sides of the abortion debate, including experts and those sharing their personal experiences.

What is a citizens’ assembly, and what has it got to do with Brexit? Read more

The assembly’s findings were published in a report at the end of 2017 and debated in parliament in 2018. Though the findings weren’t initially popular with the public, the result of the referendum – 66.6% wanted to repeal the eighth amendment – was very close to the assembly result that had voted 64% in favour of having no restrictions on termination in early pregnancy.

We’d like to find out from people living in Ireland in what ways the Irish citizen’s assembly helped inform people about the contentious issue of abortion ahead of the referendum. How did you access the findings and did they change your mind or help you understand other people’s points of view? Do you think this is an effective process for finding consensus on complex and divisive issues and why?

You can share you views and experiences in the encrypted form below, we will use some of your responses in our reporting.

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