Ms Naoimh McNamee:

We currently have 14 members of staff. Four of us work full time and the rest are part time. We also have some external contractors, that is, specialist facilitators and mediators, with whom we work. There is a very strong board, all of whom are volunteers, and there are standing committees on governance, audit, risk and so on. Ours is a wide network and community and many people have committed to Glencree over the years, although it is a relatively small-staffed team.

On training, our programme managers are experts in their field and have a wide variety of experience. The woman sitting beside me has done decades of work on interfaces in the North and has been a member of the Northern Ireland Policing Board. When we recruit for a programme, we look for that unique experience and that aspect that people can bring in. We seek mediation and facilitation skills and training, as well as emotional intelligence, which cannot always be taught, and that empathy and ability to connect with people. We are not an advocacy organisation. As a result, we need to be able to set aside any personal beliefs and focus on the process. Engaging with people in that way is very important and that is not always easy for people to do. There is an ongoing training plan in Glencree for staff where we may have identified particular areas, but the people who come to work with Glencree are experts in their field and are chosen for the variety of skills they have in a given area. In light of the responsibility we have for people and what they are going through, which tends to be in the context of a high-stakes relationship, it is important people have the capacity and the ability to do that.

Nevertheless, some of our work is very difficult and raw, particularly some of the work Ms McGlone does, and as a human being you absorb that. That kind of care and reflective practice, therefore, is something we work on providing for our staff in Glencree too. It is very specialist work. The training on the ground, with the ability to observe the work, is very important. As we move into the next five years of Glencree's life, a very strong focus for us will be on the establishment of a formal centre of excellence in Glencree. We have held peace education programmes over the years but we are deeply committed to helping to upskill and support the next generation of peacebuilders because an area of concern relates to who is coming next to continue this work.

There are many older voices who did incredible work and have great experience we can all learn from, having been engaged in the peace process, but what are we doing to support the next generation of leaders, peacebuilders, senior civil servants, political representatives, community leaders and women to have a seat at the decision-making table? We need to support young people to find courage for their voice and we need to provide opportunities to engage.

Furthermore, we must reflect the diversity of society and recognise we are no longer just an orange and green society. We have to examine how Ireland has changed. Within our new strategy, formalising our peace education offering and the niche 50-year experience we have is something we are deeply passionate about as we proceed in the next five years.