Dr. Claire Mitchell:

I thought Ireland's Future's recent document, Ireland 2030, was excellent in articulating the process of citizens' assemblies and how we saw that unfold with a very specific timeline. This committee has heard from the very best such as Professor Fidelma Ashe, Professor Jennifer Todd and Dr. Joanne McEvoy, who have all been very clear that those small groups get round quickly, in a matter of hours, from suspicion and defensiveness to quality discussions, usually about healthcare and care.

The danger is that a lot of groups are talked out in the North. The North is researched to death. The Shankill Women's Centre must have no paint left on the door from the number of knocks that it gets.

On the Deputy's question about how to build that in, make it meaningful, record and document it, with the citizens' assembly process, there needs to be some kind of central hub or place to store that information so that work is not replicated time and time again. Losing the knowledge of consulting people and for it to disappear into the ether is a counterproductive thing to do because that will create the perception, and maybe the valid perception, that there is not really much point in engaging because what is going to happen is going to happen anyway. I refer to having a place to record, catalogue, disseminate and tell stories in the media and in the wider world, whether that is through radio, television, media and the creatives, etc.