Ms Niamh Gallagher:

I will respond first to Senator Healy Eames on the cultural change issue. I agree with her point about quotas. Our strong position is that quotas are part of the solution but not the entire solution. That is why we have built and structured our organisation around training, mentoring and support. We are very much focused on building a movement of women throughout the country to try to influence this change and be part of it. Part of that is the critical mass and the numbers that will start to influence the cultural shift the Senator was discussing. The other part that is important is developing our male support base. We are looking at that this year. I have met a huge number of men, both in politics and outside, who want to be part of this movement because they recognise the different perspectives and the value they add. I could see many of the men nodding when I spoke about this. While we are getting there, the Senator's point is very well made.

What we are doing for women who are elected is also an important part of it. As Social Entrepreneurs Ireland awardees, we work quite intensively on business planning. We are not trying to do everything in year one, but what we are really anxious to do in the next number of years is look at how we might work with elected women. We are focused on the next local elections in 2014 and we will support a number of women who will be candidates. We will not drop them the day they get elected. In fact, we would love to have a big session for them a couple of days after the election to try to work with them on what they are expecting. We will refer back to the Senator about that. I thank her for flagging it and I will put that down as a demand from elected representatives.

Senator Noone asked a question about succession. I was referring to Caroline's point about succession planning for social entrepreneurs. When there is a founder and if that person wishes to move on, it can be difficult for the organisation. It is one of things on which social entrepreneurs work with us.