Politicians win respect of convention citizens

The wrapping-up event of the Convention on the Constitution was held yesterday in the suitably grand and appropriately modern Gallagher Gallery Friends Room at the Royal Hibernian Academy in Dublin.

There was a top table but the stars, as convention chairman Tom Arnold called them, the randomly chosen citizens who took part in the convention, placed themselves discreetly to one side, sitting in the audience.

They weren’t slow in coming forward, however, to speak of their sense of pride at having taken part and to describe how they developed a new respect for the professional politicians with whom they engaged.

'Same concerns'
Andy Kinsella from Churchtown in Dublin talked of working with politicians and learning how "they have all the same concerns, they're dealing with all the ambiguities that we're all dealing with".

It was, he said, “a crying shame” they seemed to “almost have to park their opinions, park their intelligence, park their brain, park their views at the front door of Leinster House”.

For Brona Farrell, a housewife – her word – from Sligo, the convention was the first time anyone really paid attention to what she thought.

“I never thought that an ordinary citizen would be allowed to take part,” she said.

'Incredibly clever'
"It gave me an absolutely unbelievable feeling of pride that this Constitution, that . . . 75 years ago it was so forward thinking, it is an incredibly clever, brilliant document that obviously needs tweaking and updating. I am so proud of the fact that we are making history by being the first citizens to be involved in making, shaping, some of the changes [to the Constitution],"

Finbar O’Brien, a postman from Cork who wanted to see the voting age lowered and same sex marriage allowed, said the Convention was “a fabulous experience and one that I will never forget. I can’t express how proud I am to have been part of it.”