Ms Tanya Ward:

Our starting point was to link with organisations in Northern Ireland. We tried to work out what the implications will be on an all-island basis. We have been linking with colleagues in the five nations, particularly Wales and England. I understand that academics are to come together to commission research in this area and to investigate it. We also propose to ask our European based body, Eurochild, to bring all of the relevant groups together in the context of Brexit and its implications because many of them do not know what Brexit means. We ran a consultation of the Children's Rights Alliance in late October. Many members said that while they are concerned about Brexit, they do not understand what it means. They need someone to educate them on what areas of law and policy will be affected. This will trigger them to respond.

A lot of work needs to be done on educating people about Brexit because what it actually means is not clear. I recently spoke at an event in Belfast at which I explained what Brexit means. Colleagues from Wales who attended that event were astounded at what I had to say because none of this dialogue is happening in Wales. Our politicians are too afraid to talk about what it means because they know it is unpopular to be against Brexit. One of the real problems in the United Kingdom is that politicians who lost the referendum are finding it difficult to stand up for children and young people. I agree wholeheartedly that we need to know what we need for children and young people and that we then need to convince our counterparts throughout the European Union in terms of that need and get them to lobby and advocate on our behalf. We also need to know what they need for children and young people, although we can foresee that will most likely be free movement rights for children and young people travelling to the United Kingdom.

They will all be concerned about child protection and the lack of an integrated child protection system. It is something on which we can work together.