Not much to report from tonight’s Assembly. It was largely an opportunity to get set up for tomorrow’s full agenda of addressing and moving towards some conclusions on the shape that future social care should take.
The agenda looks a little different from that of the first weekend. The contributions from the academic team are considerably shorter and there is much more emphasis being placed on assembly members discussing, clarifying and deliberating on potential recommendations.
It will be a very busy weekend with a lot of hard work, but there is a very positive ‘can do’ attitude in the room.
The potential of this assembly to address some of the politically problematic policy areas seems particularly appropriate in Northern Ireland given how prone the NI Assembly is to deadlock.
A forum like this that engages ordinary citizens, not concerned with party political interests, but with coming up with realistic solutions to complex problems, is not only expedient, but addresses a democratic deficit that has for too long characterised politics in Northern Ireland.
I sincerely hope that not only politicians, but broader civic society consider the Citizen’s Assembly as a potential way to ‘grease the wheels’ for progress on issues that political parties find difficult to deal with, and see the value in broader public participation in informing policy development.
Ulster Green 