Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I am very impressed with the contributions today. It is hard to come to a meeting such as this, but the things our guests were speaking about are things that I wish we had them discussing with us a year ago. The issues they are talking about and the way they are talking about them are exactly how we should have dealt with not just children's issues but a lot of the stuff to do with the pandemic in the first place. In all the committee meetings I have attended I have never heard people talking in such an inclusive way. When asked what they would like to see, their first instinct is to talk about other people. That is incredible. Well done. It is a testament to themselves, their families and The Ark group.

I have a couple of questions. During the pandemic everybody was trying to get outside a lot more, but we do not do outside space very well in Ireland. We do not put enough emphasis on it. I have four children and the playgrounds are sometimes old and not very big. There also may not be skate parks and things like that. What type of outdoor spaces do our guests think we need? Perhaps they think they have good spaces, but what would they like to see in outdoor spaces? That is my first question. Can we deal with the first question? I have another question about online stuff as well.