Ms Orla O'Connor:

We probably do not have that all set out. Currently there is a shared island unit but that is not necessarily bringing us to the things that need to change and to come together. I agree it is about a dedicated space within a Department but it has to be more than just sharing the experiences. There needs to be a way of bringing this together and the authority to do that. I do not know how we would do that but that is what is needed. It is as well to have the authority to go out into communities. There are lots of really good structures in our communities and community development approaches but it needs to go out, rather than trying to get all the information in.

There is resourcing going into fairly significant pieces of research on North-South comparisons. It needs to be gender disaggregated. We need to be able to get the information from that. That is key. It was shocking in a way that when we did the piece on violence against women, we found it really difficult to get good comparative analysis - it just was not there - of services around violence against women North and South that was up to date or that had gender-disaggregated information and data in it. There is a massive gap. That needs to be part of the framework and has to go hand in hand. It is not about waiting for all the information. Key to that framework is to have a part of it that is about identifying structural barriers around participation and what needs to be done around that. There are different pieces in terms of policy, data, cross-jurisdictional legislation and policy, and also the supports needed for things to happen.