Ms Brenda Kelly:

The report is very progressive. As Mr. Ducque said, I would be interested to see how it is implemented. I hope it is.

The previous meetings the committee had were very realistic to the on-the-ground and front-line experience. Thanks a million for having us all here today.

I would like to touch on something that is coming up because it is a recurring theme around class and marginalised communities. These are the people who are being affected by criminalisation. As I said in my opening statement, our stance on decriminalisation came from the direct experience of young people but was the direct experience of working-class LGBTQ+ people. BeLonG To is not geographically based and we would have young people coming from all areas of Dublin, Kildare and Wicklow. They are coming from all different backgrounds, classes and areas. The reason we took that decriminalisation stance was because we were hearing in the groups of young people engaging in identical behaviours, but the young people in working-class areas were picking up charges because of possession of drugs. Middle-class young people were doing the exact same things and not picking up charges. The working-class young people then are struggling to get employment and go into education because of these charges. As Mr. Perth said, that is making it harder to reach young people.

I thank the committee for its important work and for having us here today.