Ms Olivia O'Hagan:

I am a past participant in a couple of the programmes. As I had lived in a very sheltered environment in Northern Ireland where there was a lot of sectarianism, the opportunity of going on a programme was of tremendous value to me. It raised my confidence and helped me reach out to other communities with which I never had any links in the past. It made me realise that their issues were exactly the same as ours. That helped me greatly in promoting the work of Smashing Times and going into other communities and working with them. It has encouraged me to realise that equality is very much on the agenda and is part of the Smashing Times theatre company work. In working as facilitators and building up a group of facilitators throughout the Border counties, in the South and in Northern Ireland, we have built up their confidence to develop the skills of those people whom we favour in our society. That is where the facilitation courses have helped me and those in other communities.