Thousands of invitations issued for citizens’ assemblies

Thousands of invitations have been issued to members of the public by Taoiseach Micheál Martin to participate in two upcoming citizens' assemblies on proposals for a directly elected mayor for Dublin, and on biodiversity.

More than 1,301 people living in Ireland, including 58 from 27 different countries, have already registered their interest since invitations were posted to households last week.

Those who received an invitation and have yet to register interest in the first stage of the selection process, can do so via citizensassembly.ie/register by March 14th. There will then be a further classification of those who applied to create assemblies broadly representative of Irish and Dublin life and communities.

The Biodiversity Assembly will have 99 members selected from those who register their interest. The Dublin Assembly will have 79 members, 12 of whom will be councillors from across the four local authorities and 67 selected from those who register their interest. In addition, each assembly will have an independent chair.

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The Dublin Assembly will discuss the administration of Dublin and the potential of having a directly elected mayor for the capital, while the Biodiversity Assembly will make recommendations on the national response to threats to wildlife and habitats.

Previous citizens’ assemblies have made recommendations to government on the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution, gender equality, and climate change.

The two assemblies are scheduled to start their work in April and should conclude by the end of the year at the latest.