Frances Black (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for appearing and for their presentations. I am sad to say I was not aware of the great work being done but it sounds brilliant. Cross-Border and cross-community work to bring communities together is very important. People everywhere have the same issues in respect of homelessness, unemployment and mental health. I know the reality of that from going up North and into different communities. I have referred previously to intergenerational trauma, mental health and other issues that people deal with daily in the North. These are major issues.

I gave an example here before of a cross-Border, cross-community group run by the charitable organisation with which I am involved. It focused on families impacted by addiction rather than people in addiction. It was for family members who have someone they love in that situation. I was blown away by the experience. I sat in on the programme in which the two different communities came together. There was also a cross-Border aspect, with people from the South involved. It was very interesting. There was some friction initially between people from the two communities. When we worked through that, however, it was amazing how they came together. We learned eventually that people from both communities were grieving. I also realised that people from the South had no idea of the impact of the conflict and of people dying, with the resultant intergenerational trauma.

There is now also the ongoing issue of suicide in those communities. I was involved in another event in north Belfast where families from both communities who had lost loved ones to suicide came together. The heartbreak was exactly the same and the devastation and intergenerational trauma that comes from conflict was exactly the same. It sounds like that is the essence of what the organisations represented today are trying to do. It is about bringing civil society together and that is definitely the way forward. It connects into the anxieties, problems and worries that people face daily and examines what those issues are. In that way, it brings people together. I have seen that happen and how it works. I have participated in programmes and witnessed how the two communities come together through heartache. People who have gone through the same thing can then find empathy for each other. I believe such initiatives really work.

I approach this from the perspective of intergenerational trauma and mental health and the impact those issues have on addiction. Many organisations are involved in addressing these issues. Are the witnesses' organisations doing some work on issues such as intergenerational trauma, addiction or mental health?