A FOUR-DAY event to encourage students to look at world issues and identify potential solutions began yesterday at City Hall.

The event, called the Model United Nations which is hosted by Davis College Mallow, is Ireland’s largest student-run simulation of the UN General Assembly in which students from different backgrounds and nationalities represent countries and Non-Governmental Organisations.

The Cork Education and Training Board school are coordinating the event.

This year’s event will be the largest Model United Nations conference in Ireland and will run until Friday, January 25.

Such was the interest from schools around the world that a waiting list had to be created.

Up to 500 children, aged between 13 and 18 years, from 30 schools across Ireland, as well as visiting students from Spain, Portugal and Germany, are all taking part.

The students are discussing things such as infectious diseases, displacement and ethnic discrimination of the Rohingya People, domestic violence and ocean pollution.

Topics for discussion include the regulation of drones, working conditions in impoverished nations and the rehabilitation of drug users.