Learning from Northern Ireland

News release

For immediate use

A group that aims to improve democracy in the Republic of Ireland will come to Belfast next week to learn from what has been happening in the North. All members of the public are welcome to attend.

The Democracy Commission, chaired by the General Secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, David Begg, was set up to boost participation in the political process. The initiative follows evidence that only half of young people vote in elections and that turnout is low in disadvantaged areas.

The Commission wants to understand why many people feel that politics is irrelevant and to collect examples from other countries of good practice in encouraging participation by citizens.

Eithne McManus, who is working for the Commission, noted that the constitution and political system in the Republic dated back to the early 20th Century.

“In Northern Ireland, by contrast, there are novel and relatively untried democratic institutions. The Commission believes that there is much that can be learnt from initiatives taken in Northern Ireland in the last few years ,” she said.

The public forum, hosted by NICVA, the WEA and Community Foundation NI, will be held at the NICVA offices, 61 Duncairn Gardens, Belfast, on Monday 12 January 2004 at 2.00pm.

For further information please contact:

Frances McCandless, Director of Policy, NICVA, 028 9087 7777, mobile 07721 746804; or

Paul McGill, Communications Officer, NICVA, 9087 7777, or mobile 07721 746805.

Eithne McManus can be contacted in Dublin at 003531 616 9050 or mobile 00353 86 3854594.

Notes to editors

The Democracy Commission was created by TASC, a Dublin-based think tank for action on social change and by Democratic Dialogue in Northern Ireland.

One of the members of the Commission is Professor Elizabeth Meehan, Director of the Institute of Governance, Public Policy and Social Research at Queen’s University Belfast, 028 9097 3288