Mr. Aidan Campbell:

To add what Ms Farrell and Dr. Soares have already said, and to pick up on a couple of points made by Deputy Martin Kenny and Senator Coffey, much of the networking and work we have done with rural partner organisations in the South and in Britain has come from personal contact. We know individuals in rural networks in England to whom we can lift the phone and speak to about certain issues. We are a networking organisation. We employ six staff, which is not a big team. A total of 90% of our 250 member groups are volunteer-based and do not necessarily have these networks. If they are working on issues, whether local economic development, women's issues, youth issues or environmental issues, they are not necessarily as networked as organisations that can employ staff. It is very important that we start to think about how we could be more systematic in ensuring groups have these networks and know who to contact. The common charter is a way to facilitate this. If we can get administrations throughout these islands to start promoting it more, and to think about how we promote it more and embed it more, there would be huge power in it to deal with some of the issues Deputy Martin Kenny spoke about with regard to remote working, and how we build sustainable economic development in rural communities. Looking at what is coming down the line with regard to climate crisis, how do we reduce the number of people in rural areas having to jump in their cars to do a two-hour commute into urban centres to get work? These are huge issues and there is huge potential. Our board members were at the Grow Remote conference held in Tubbercurry in Sligo last month. They see huge potential in trying to extend that model into rural communities in the North. These are the types of issues that we deal with in rural Northern Ireland. They are very similar to what is being dealt with here. That is how the common charter can help.