Citizen Parliament Members with the bust of Countess Markievicz in the courtyard of Leinster House. L to R: Olga Hogan, Meadhbh Hennessy, Jim O'Connell, Niall Mahon, Joint Committee member Aengus Ó Snodaigh, Anne Nash, Rosemary Day, Catherine English, Joseph O’Donohue and Moya Nà Cheallaigh, with the bust of Countess Markievicz in the courtyard of Leinster House..
Ten members of the Irish National Citizens’ Parliament travelled to Leinster House to present their resolutions to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport on the 5 November 2025.
The presentation of the resolutions was particularly timely as the committee has just published its draft Broadcast Amendment Bill for consultation. The delegation pointed out where their resolutions aligned with those of the committee and where the committee might like to consider issues they had not included.
The delegation was granted 30 minutes by the committee and this was screened live on Irish television. . (To view the presentation given by the Irish Citizens' Parliament, please fast forward to 1 hour 42 minutes of the recording)
Cathaoirleach [Chairperson] of the Committee, Alan Kelly TD [Member of Parliament] and the Committee welcomed the group. Spokespersons for the Citizens’ Parliament on the day were Moya Nà Cheallaigh and Niall Mahon.
Rosemary made an introductory statement and a powerpoint presentation was used to give the background to the project and the parliament. Members of the committee were also given hard copies of the Irish MeDeMap Report booklet.
Niall Mahon highlighted six resolutions that related mainly to the need for funding and investment by the government. He explained that the citizens understood that all media; commercial, public service and community media, are under financial pressure.
He noted that many newsrooms are finding it hard to recruit journalists from the working class and from diverse backgrounds, such as new immigrants or people with disabilities. He told the committee that newsrooms, outside of Dublin in particular, find it hard to pay and train journalists.
One resolution proposed to combat these problems was that a universal basic wage for journalists should be provided. This would offer a level of financial protection and encourage journalistic talent to remain in the industry.
Another proposal was the creation of government-funded journalistic apprenticeships to be based in local newspapers and local/community radio stations. This would go some way towards redressing the rural/urban divide and ensuring that young people from all backgrounds have the opportunity to work in media, starting with their local media. The committee was particularly taken with this proposal.
Moya explained that the citizens proposed that the Regulator, Coimisiún na Meán, needs to be given the power to follow up and hold the media to account when they are not impartial or accurate.
She said that the citizens were concerned that people in society are becoming more and more removed from each other. This led the Citizens’ Parliament to propose that that politicians should meet and talk with their constituents in an organised way regularly. These meetings would be like the old fashioned 'Town Hall Meetings' as a special forum. They should be facilitated by the media and be organised on a non-party and non-partisan basis to be attended by the public online and in person. Regular events like this would bring back dialogue and debate in the community - whether this be the local or the national community as they enable more direct participation in the democratic process.
Moya told the committee that the citizens proposed a ban on opinion polls for a week before elections across all media, including on online platforms and on social media. Members of the committee were very interested in this proposal, stressing the power of polls to sway opinion and wondered if there were examples of this in practice in any other jurisdictions.
The resolutions were all very well-received and were discussed in some detail by the committee during a question and answer session that lasted 26 minutes.
Cathaoirleach [Chairman, Alan Kelly, TD] said that he believed the point made by Niall about media literacy being necessary for all was probably the most important result of the citizens’ deliberations. This was born out of discussions by the Citizens’ Parliament, which highlighted the fact that across all age groups, people have difficulty distinguishing what is ‘good and bad media’, what can be believed and what needs to be fact checked.
The Cathaoirleach suggested to the Committee that these resolutions could be revisited by the committee when they return to look at online safety over the coming weeks.
Callum Fabb (centre), Assistant Director of Regulatory Policy, Coimisiún na Meán, accepting the resolutions of the Irish National Citizens’ Parliament on Media and Democracy from citizens Niall Mahon and Moya Nà Cheallaigh. This is a significant result - the citizens were assured that their work and resolutions will have an impact. The Irish regulator, Coimisiún na Meán, received the resolutions earlier in the day and will consider how those that relate to them can be implemented.
The National Union of Journalists and Media Literacy Ireland will also consider the resolutions that are relevant to their members and work in the near future.
Members of the Committee were joined by non-members who were interested in the resolutions and in the project, including Cathal Crowe, TD and Senator Maria Byrne.
The politicians were also interested in the resolutions from other countries in the project and we have promised to share reports and publications with them going forward.
Representatives of the National Citizens’ Parliament on Media and Democracy had previously presented their resolutions at the level of local democracy to Limerick City and County Council (14 July 2025) and will travel to Brussels to present them to MEPs and members of the EU Commission on 13 January 2026. They will be joined by representatives from other citizens’ parliaments, organised as part of the MeDeMap project i.e. from Austria, The Czech Republic, Germany and Slovenia.
Members Olga Hogan and Joseph O’Donoghue, presenting Senator Maria Byrne with the National Citizen Parliament Report. This is a recording of Citizens Parliament members Niall Mahon and Moya Ni Cheallaigh, accompanied by Dr Rosemary Day and Jude McInerney, presenting the resolutions to the Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport on the 5 November 2025. .
Alan Kelly (Chair) with members of National Citizens' Parliament on Media and Democracy. Read more about the Citizens' Parliament and MeDeMap.
This research is part of a Horizon Funded pan-European, 3-year research project, undertaken by 10 European countries: Ireland, France, Estonia, Slovenia, Czechia, Germany, Austria, Portugal, Italy, and Poland.
