Citizens Assemblies and Deliberative Democracy: An Exchange Between Ireland and the United Kingdom

In the autumn of 2025, the Irish Ambassador to London Martin Fraser and renowned civil society activist, academic and politician Katherine Zappone convened a seminar at the Irish Embassy in London to exchange ideas about deliberative democracy. Six citizens’ assemblies in Ireland have addressed complex policy issues facing Irish society, such as marriage equality and women’s control over their agency. The seminar explored the relevance of this experience for the United Kingdom, and sought reciprocal learning for Ireland.

A diverse group of social activists, civil society leaders, policy experts, and politicians participated. This report summarises the discussion.

There is a lot of scepticism about deliberative democracy, not least among elected politicians, but representative democracy is faced first with a loss of trust in its work and second by mounting existential threats, for example from climate change, uncontrolled migration and unethical A.I. The seminar showed how governments can find ways to use a range of deliberative processes, organic and organised, to inform, lead, and support public policy reform, nationally and locally.