The report presents some of the core findings from a project designed to track the process of the Irish Citizens’ Assembly, with a particular focus on the quality of the deliberative process and the attitudes of the members towards the process. The report also evaluates the success of the online format that was used throughout most of the Assembly due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The evaluation team was led by FuJo Director Professor Jane Suiter who worked with FuJo’s Dr Kirsty Park, Professor Yvonne Galligan from TU Dublin and Professor David M. Farrell from University College Dublin. The research was funded by the Secretariat of the Irish Citizens’ Assembly.
The evaluation team observed all public sessions of the assembly, surveyed members each weekend and interviewed members as well as the organisation team. Overall, the reports finds that the Assembly was a very well run process, with high deliberative quality and good levels of knowledge gain and understanding by members. The report examines the emerging Irish practice for deliberation, widely recognised as a global leader, and makes a number of recommendations for consideration as the Irish practice continues to develop and evolve.
You can read the full report here.
