Ms Vivienne Glanville:

We work from first steps to third level. When going to education, whether personal development or a health and well-being programme, people are out of pocket. We are surrounded by an environment that has cost-a-lot coffee and all of these things. Nobody gets pocket money to go to a class. Children who are sent by their parents to a programme have pocket money. We believe that people are out of pocket for these small things. In our programmes the kettle is there and it is free. The morning break is free. We then have to push to make sure our programmes are free. They are but the work that goes on behind the scenes is about trying to access programme funding to make sure everything is accessible.

We provide childcare in many of our 17 projects. In Clondalkin for instance we had to shut down a baby room because children aged under two need to be able to sleep. We were minding them for three hours so a woman could attend a course. We cannot mind children aged under two years. We can mind children aged between two and five years. Women with children aged up two years would need out-of-pocket expenses to help get childcare. There are all of these extra bits. Sometimes it is about sustenance. It is about a sandwich and a cup of tea to keep going.

As Ms Holt said, if we can see it we can be it. Many of us have come through community employment schemes and worked our way up. The community sector is an area where many activists have found positions. There are not as many new jobs coming on board now because funding has become stagnant. We want to hear the women who come through our doors telling us that they would not mind our jobs. We want to be able to move over and let someone else in. This has always been our goal. Many of the women who come through volunteer and give back their time. There is always giving back.

With regard to tokenism, we need to bring anybody who is interested into the room to ask them.

Many would say they would not mind a buddy system whereby they could contact another woman in politics and ask: "How did you negotiate this?" Many of us need that in all areas of life.