Ms Adeline O'Brien:

As regards the collaboration, that infrastructure was set up across the county on the Community Call and it is obvious that that collaborative work has remained in place. Work was done on the food poverty issue with the dissemination of information through the local community development committees, LCDCs, as well as collaborative pieces with those partners addressing health inequality. There were issues in accessing health services and the digital inclusion initiatives we ran supported people through that. There is much closer collaboration between local development companies, HSE representatives and Department representatives on the LCDCs and the Community Call. It is continuing. The issue is not as urgent but longer pieces of collaborative work have definitely emerged from that.

There are two issues with embracing new technologies. The first is inclusion, which relates to everybody. Sometimes there is capacity to engage where connectivity, hardware and software are not an issue but very often in those cases with older people they also need the capacity to engage safely. Work is needed around safety and engaging online but as well as the inclusion aspect there is also the issue of poverty, where the barrier to engaging online is the means to do it. Poverty is a major issue when it comes to inclusion. Following some of the work we have done where we included people by digital means, they are now engaging in education and training.

They are also engaging in parenting courses and inclusion activities online where previously transport was an issue and access was an issue for some people with disabilities. Childcare was another typical barrier to engaging in group-based activities. We have seen that a lot of people who would never have been able to access our services for a variety of reasons are now completely engaged. It is correct to say that it is about embracing technology but all four components have to be accessible for everybody to be completely included. Where hardware, software and connectivity are in place, knowledge and competency in engaging safely online are critical for everybody.