Madam, – We welcome Labour’s call for a constitutional convention to produce a new draft constitution in response to the growing clamour for political and institutional reform (Home News, January 7th).
David Farrell is right to say that mere proposals to abolish the Seanad are a distraction (Opinion, January 6th), the only practical route to genuine reform is through a constitutional convention with full participation of ordinary citizens.
Labour’s proposal for a constitutional convention with an open mandate consisting of 30 individual citizens, 30 members of the Oireachtas and 30 constitutional and political experts is the first genuine effort by any party to include the people in the process of reform.
Having said that, we call on Labour to commit to ensuring: 1. The selection of all members of the convention and the setting of the agenda be open, fair and representative of the people. 2. The new draft constitution be put to a referendum within six months of the completion of the convention’s work.
These commitments are crucial to public support. The people must have real confidence in the convention and there must be a clear path to implementation. If the convention is to be more than a talking shop, the new draft constitution must be put directly before the people for a vote.
We ask Labour to clarify these issues. We call on all parties to embrace a constitutional convention with full citizen participation as the only way to achieve real reform and restore faith in our political institutions.
Those who support our initiative are invited to join our campaign at www.2nd-republic.ie. – Yours, etc,