Citizens' parliament is dissolved after final sitting in Limerick

THE NATIONAL Citizens’ Parliament on media and democracy has held its final sitting in Limerick.

Like its previous meetings, Mary Immaculate College played host to the event on Saturday. May 10.

It saw 20 people swap the blazing sunshine for a hot debate on ways to support and use the media to protect democracy.

The parliamentary members have formed a number of resolutions, which will be presented at the European Commission next February.

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Two of its members, Con Cronin and Niall Mahon will fly the Irish flag in a meeting with MEPs and members of the European Commission in Brussels.

The group’s resolutions include a call to enforce large online platforms to reinstate fact checking and to provide simple, effective routes for citizens to report factual errors and have corrections made in a timely fashion.

They also include resolutions for national and local politicians and these will be presented to Limerick City and County Council and to the Oireachtas Committee chaired by former Labour leader, Alan Kelly in the autumn.

The citizens are calling for democracy to be strengthened by establishing town hall types of engagement and more opportunities for journalists to quiz politicians under the full gaze of the public.

Ireland’s media regulator, Coimisiún na Meán has been asked to establish regional committees with accessible representatives so that citizens can easily avail of the services they provide to the public.

The National Citizens’ Parliament of Ireland was funded by the EU through its Horizon scheme and it is part of a three year research project conducted across ten countries in Europe under the name MeDeMap – mapping media for democracy.