Dr. Aoibhinn N? Sh?illeabh?in:

It was a very diverse group of people. There were people from all walks of life and some of those did not necessarily always believe there was a crisis. It was a very much evidence-based work programme and I was very impressed and surprised, if I am honest, that the people in the room interrogated everything they were told.

It was not that any one speaker could come in and give us the statistics without being interrogated on why that aspect was discussed, where the numbers came from and, behind that, what were the underlying issues. The assembly process requires and facilitates that the people in the room get to interrogate everything they are told and then get twice as much time to discuss it in their groups and ask questions about it. That is key. It is not that anyone accepted at face value what was happening. They had a multitude of presentations and a diversity of perspectives and interrogated them.