Ms Michelle Murphy:

As stated in our submission, we are looking for an action plan to address precisely what the Deputy has outlined. We have the report of the loneliness task force, for example. There are really good examples in Scotland and elsewhere. Look at the resources we already have available. The Deputy mentioned post offices. That is something we really need to examine when we think about the digitalisation of services. We need to consider those who are vulnerable and the isolation they experience. What is the impact of isolation going to be on those people? There might be a cost saving in one respect, but there certainly will not be a cost saving in another. The object is to strengthen capacity of communities and ask what human interactions those vulnerable people have on a daily basis - sometimes they do not happen on a daily basis - and how we can improve the position in that regard. It comes down to how we can use what we have and the services provided by the community and voluntary sector to strengthen and support what is there and to build capacity.

As the Deputy mentioned, one thing about recent climate issues and storms we have dealt with is the importance of communities. It was people's neighbours who were there to help out when there was suddenly no mobile phone coverage, no electricity and everything else. There are many learnings to be had from that. It does require resourcing, however, and it does require learning from what worked elsewhere. We do not have to start from scratch. We can look at what has worked in similar communities elsewhere - the Deputy mentioned more rural communities in Scotland - and how we can replicate that here and use the networks, etc., we already have.