I'm closing this account tonight as @ChangeTrust closes tomorrow. I'll continue to tweet about all sorts over @NigelMcKinney and if you follow @Paul_BCT some of our work will continue @CFNIreland so all the best
.@NewtonEmerson@ChangeTrust@involveUK nothing apparently serious about ideas for a #citizensassembly here. Very serious plans indeed but those planning & funding have never seen it or said it was to be a Stormont stand in.
An experiment in deliberative & participative democracy. A complement to & not a replacement for our legislative Assembly. A means to help resolve difficult issues not a solution to our current impasse #CitizensAssemblyNIbbc.co.uk/news/northern_irel…
important to say - a #citizensassembly is a complement, not an alternative, to elected reps & institutions - aim is to engage the public to help politicians resolve deadlocked issues @MarkCarruthers7@bbctheview
We want to see the Citizens' Assembly alongside a raft of other civic innovations here. We want to see the voluntary & community sector playing a key role & we are working hard to get the resources & support to make that happen.
it's selected randomly i.e. by a polling company or similar and controlled for age, gender, etc so it's rep of the population - so def the general public not organisational reps - that's why it's different from anything tried before