Citizens' Assembly to choose projects that will contribute to a sustainable future in Limerick

BILLED as an academic cross between ‘Dancing with the Stars’ and ‘Dragons’ Den’, the UL50 Citizens’ Assembly will bring together 100 community stakeholders and citizens from Limerick city and county this Thursday.

The participants have been tasked with selecting four projects from University of Limerick that will contribute to building a sustainable future for Limerick city and county.  Each selected project will receive €10,000 in funding to make their idea happen.

The Assembly is a collaboration between the University, Limerick City and County Council, Limerick Public Participation Network (PPN) and Limerick Comhairle na nÓg.

The event is supported by the Limerick Community Education Network and is designed to provide a platform for further engagement between UL and community.

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From microplastics to ethical investing to singing your way to health as you get older, project proposals were drawn from across the University and selected according to their capacity to address an identified UN Sustainable Development Goal.

Those behind each of the project had to show in detail their plans to engage with the people of Limerick and their projects potential for positive impact in the city and county.

Commenting ahead of the Assembly,  Professor Nigel Healey, VP Global and Community Engagement at UL said: "As part of UL’s fiftieth anniversary year, we were anxious to do something that would engage with the wider Limerick community and, perhaps, reverberate beyond next May when our Jubilee concludes. An event that would provide an opportunity for academics to develop their public engagement skills and experience and where citizens would gain insight into who we are and what we do, seemed like the answer.”

Lorraine Broderick, Planning Group, Limerick PPN Resource Worker, added: “As PPN Limerick’s Resource Worker I am always keen to source opportunities for our member groups to contribute to and engage with meaningfully. With its focus on the Sustainable Development Goals and significant funding available for projects in Limerick, the Citizens Assembly fits into our core ethos of collaborative consultation and working together for a better Limerick.”

There will be six presentations in the morning and six in the afternoon with teams being given 10 minutes each to tell the Assembly about their proposed project - see ulcitizensassembly.ie.

Mike Finn will act as the Master of Ceremonies for the all-day event which takes place at the Engine, Cecil Street in the city centre.