Mr. Michael O'Neill:

I am conscious of time but I will just respond to Senator Pauline O'Reilly's points. The process alone will never solve the problem but what we have seen through our equality reviews is that, while enhancing the process will not necessarily resolve everything, it would improve the situation with regard to a number of issues. I am in no way disregarding the nature of the challenge that Part 8 poses but the other thing we have seen within the equality reviews when going through 31 local authorities nationwide is that even in circumstances where there has been approval for planning there are still barriers beyond that. Therefore, we need a multilayered approach to this. It goes from politicians at a national legislative level down to people on the ground. The other thing that struck us as we were going through the equality reviews is that there were examples of good practice on the ground with some individual people working within the system but it would appear, because we did not see paperwork to back it up, that that was largely based on the efforts, goodwill and initiatives of those individuals. Part of what an equality review does is encourage that good practice to become embedded within the system. That way, if that individual moves on or a new department is realigned or moved around, that practice is still part of the system and those who engage with the system will have a reasonable expectation and understand what they are entitled to. We do not think equality reviews will solve all the problems because this is such a big challenge but we believe that, within the existing system, the process can improve the situation, at least to some degree.