Ms Deborah Watters:

I was going to say "Good afternoon," but it is still morning, although it feels like the afternoon when one has travelled from Belfast. I thank the committee very much for the invitation to speak today. Mr. Harry Maguire will commence the discussion by making a presentation. We were given a brief introduction by the Chairman. I have been involved with Northern Ireland Alternatives for the past 16 years and helped to set it up. As the members will have heard, I worked in the United States for five years before that. I managed a restorative justice programme in an area south of Chicago and dealt with many gang issues and drug issues and was able to bring some of that learning back to my local environment. Like Mr. Harry Maguire, I am a parent, I am not a grandparent - not yet - and I live and work in north Belfast. Therefore, I also am a key stakeholder in this. I do this work not only because I believe in it but because I want to be part of transformation in the Northern Ireland context, namely, part of transforming society into one where we can have equality, true values - old fashioned values - and build new human ways of addressing conflict within our society. I thank the committee for having us here today and I will hand back to Mr. Harry Maguire.