ALL of us who have been in politics for the long haul go through bleak spells when we ask ourselves: “What’s the point?”.

It’s certainly a question that has run through my mind a few times recently. But just when my heart was weighing heavy in my chest about the state of the world, along came the Irish abortion referendum.

As I watched scenes of exiled women turning en masse at airports so they could vote, with other women waiting to greet them, my heart began to soar again. The humanity, dignity, honesty, and empathy on display was truly inspirational.

The landslide victory for change, which swept away centuries of entrenched political, biological and cultural control of women, was achieved by the bravery of those who stood up to be counted and confronted the whole country with the reality of their own experiences.

I am truly in awe of how the Yes campaign in Ireland was conducted. It was magnificent. And it has many lessons for the independence movement here in Scotland.

First of all, it brought home the importance of public participation beyond the narrow framework of party politics. In 2016, the Citizens’ Assembly – an Tionol Saoranach – was established to consider major political questions facing the country – such as abortion, climate change, referendums, the ageing population, fixed-term parliaments – and bring forward reports to the Dail Eireann, the Irish Parliament.

The Assembly was created by the current centre-right coalition government in Dublin and didn’t go as far as some opposition parties had wanted. But it did become the vehicle that pushed parliament into giving the population a direct vote to amend the constitution. It became, in practice, a living, breathing instrument of the people.

In contrast to the vague, ethereal, uncodified UK constitution, rooted in the concept of the divine right of kings and which requires years of scholarship and Supreme Court judges to interpret, the experience in Ireland shows that constitutions can be dynamic.

At Scotland’s last independence referendum, it frustrated me, and many others, that there was often confusion between power and policy. The attraction of independence for me and countless hundreds of thousands of others, is that it allows us to start afresh, with new democratic structures that won’t be put in place by the fossilised and entrenched UK state.

It is about reclaiming control over our destiny and unleashing the power of the people to create a better, more civilised society. The second compelling lesson from the Irish referendum is to trust the people. That word “trust” was the central message of the Irish campaign – that women can be trusted to make difficult choices for themselves. Democracy is a principle not only to be applied when you think the tide is with you.

And, incidentally, the Irish vote shows that attitudes change. As recently as 2002, a proposal to tighten the ban on abortion – by removing the threat of suicide as grounds for a legal termination – was defeated by only a fraction of 1%. Even five years ago, an Irish referendum on abortion might well have gone the other way. That’s a point for the British Unionist “once-in-a lifetime, you’ll-have-had-your-referendum” brigade to ponder. It is a democratic abomination to argue that a vote in 2014 should lock us into the Union for decades even though the UK and the wider world are changing rapidly.

That brings me to the SNP’s Growth Commission, which has at least moved the debate on. I understand its report will be used to fuel discussion among grassroots SNP members through planned national assemblies. I hope the SNP membership will be able to democratically influence, amend or fundamentally change its content.

I understand speakers from the “wider Yes movement” will also be invited. That is commendable, because the policies of the SNP will have a strong bearing on the future success or failure of the independence movement.

Can we inspire the young and the poor to turn out in vast numbers while simultaneously reassuring the more cautious and timid elements of the electorate? That’s a difficult balancing act and it’s one we all have to grapple with if we’re serious about moving towards independence. But we also need to make it clear that voting for independence is not the same as voting for a party-political manifesto. There will, in the future, be a whole spectrum of options available. And in the meantime, we need to build the democratic and political case for independence as well as the economic case.

We can start modelling now the kind of democracy we want to see in an independent Scotland. If local and national government were to open up their political decision-making to something like citizens’ assemblies, and if we were to create a people’s constitutional assembly, we could involve everyone in building the foundations of a future independent Scotland.

It could be introduced by the question: “If Scotland was independent, how should decisions be made and what should be its founding principles?”

For me, the biggest risk to independence is that we end up talking among ourselves. So, whatever the SNP does, the wider independence movement needs a coordinated and democratic means of creating the space for every single person in Scotland to feel that they have the power to write Scotland’s future.

And however we make that happen, whether through the Scottish Independence Convention or an even wider network, we need to embody the democratic principles we aspire to for a future independent nation.

Since the last General Election, Scottish politics has been stuck in the doldrums. I sense that is starting to change and the tide is moving in our direction.

But we need a trusty, seaworthy ship that we can all get on board, irrespective of our party-political allegiance – and then we can set sail together bound for the port of independence.