Emer Currie (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. I am here to get as much information as possible to relay to the organisations that get in contact with me. I have been contacted by many of them regarding projects with which the Community Foundation of Ireland might be able to help, so I thank Ms Charlton, Ms Haworth and Ms Kelly. I ask them to provide as much information as they can in respect of situations in which an organisation would go to the reconciliation fund as compared with situations where it might go to the Community Foundation for Ireland. I am sure our guests have an oversight of that.

It is great that some of the projects the foundation is funding are not the normal, run-of-the-mill projects one is used to hearing about. One hears a great deal about reconciliation funds but the foundation also funds projects relating to climate justice, domestic violence and all that sort of thing. It is very broad. If I were advising an organisation that comes to me, where would I send it? One of the organisations we met recently is the Irish Central Border Area Network. In what direction would our guests push that organisation?

I refer to mental health. I am on the board of a charity called Social Anxiety Ireland. Is that the kind of thing in which the foundation is interested? That organisation is based in Dublin but wishes to reach out across the island. It may not be part of the all-island fund but it may relate to other funds the foundation has.

My final question is probably more for Ms Kelly. I keep coming back to the fact that we are crying out for more North-South co-operation in light of everything that has happened in the context of Brexit. This is the Joint Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement but parts of the agreement have not been implemented. I refer specifically to the North-South consultative forum. What loss does the failure to have that structure up and running create? How would it benefit the work our guests do to have a forum where civic and community organisations would have a voice and a say? What value would that bring? Do our guests see themselves playing a role in that regard? What are their thoughts on not having that structure? Whether they like it or not, as the foundation is an all-island operation with this fund, it sees so much of the co-operation that is there, as well as its value and potential.