Supreme Court justice to chair Eighth Amendment assembly
Cabinet appoints Mary Laffoy as chairwoman of Citizens' Assembly
The Cabinet today agreed to appoint Supreme Court justice Mary Laffoy as chairwoman of the Citizens' Assembly set to examine the issue of repealing the Eighth Amendment.
Laffoy, who has served on the Supreme Court since 2013, previously chaired the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse between 1999 and 2003, before resigning controversially after she had issues with the Department of Education's co-operation with the inquiry.
The programme for government committed to establishing a politician-free Citizens' Assembly within six months of government formation. Fianna Fáil was also heavily in favour of establishing a judge-led commission. Aside from Laffoy, the assembly will be composed of 99 members of the public, randomly selected to be representative of the electorate based on gender, age and regional spread. The Dáilapproved the setting up of the assembly earlier this month.
