Mr. Reuben Hambakachere:

With reference to the question on community engagement, I would say that change is incremental. In the period in the past to which the Deputy referred, Ireland was a multicultural society and we are now moving towards being an intercultural society. Culture has also created opportunities for the migrant communities that we work with to engage with local communities. We host a number of events every year to enable the host community to meet the migrants that we work with. We host an Africa day every year, an anti-racism day, in March. Next week, on 8 March which is International Women's Day, we are inviting members of the community to meet migrants. We have also created a migrant forum which is a space for migrants to meet the host communities. We also deliver intercultural awareness training to service providers including members of An Garda Síochána who have just qualified from Templemore and who are moving into the Navan area. We also deliver that training to the HSE, including to front-line staff as well as to foster parent agencies and schools and colleges in the area.

We have developed resources to address the far right around the language used and how to respond to that. There is community engagement and there are opportunities for people who have come to Ireland from other cultures to interact with people from the host community. Relationships have improved, in my experience, including the relationship between our organisation and mainstream service providers.