‘Changed Utterly’: The Citizens’ Assembly on the 8th Amendment

The 2018 Citizens’ Assembly on the 8th Amendment of Constitution instigated an important process for public participation and deliberation about legal status abortion in Republic Ireland. Examining processes Assembly, I argue that it was consistent with democratic deliberations as discrete initiatives function alongside other deliberative processes. identify examine some limitations Citizen processes, including tendency to favour monologue over dialogue, construction ‘objective’ reason possibility emotion deliberations, exclusion limited understandings applications Iris Marion Young’s idea social justice. Their implications were identified engagement political decision making Ireland a 2017 Council Europe fact-finding report. In future, acknowledging addressing these could enhance use Assemblies their relationship systemic consider constitutional change.