Mr. Andy O'Hara:

What the committee has heard today is families and people who use drugs telling it what works. We know from our outreach and working with the families. We have far higher engagement than other groups because we are autonomous and peer-led. We know what is going on across the country, anywhere we are. It is the same with the families. If we think back to when the drugs task forces were first developed, there was a recognition of all these groups that are marginalised and excluded, people who use drugs, families and communities, and they need a community development approach, which we need to fund. We need to mandate that there are independent, autonomous peer networks for people who use drugs, for families and communities. They work in partnership with the State. If that is ad hoc, tokenistic or someone is deciding whether you get funding, or if you say something it gets pulled back, it will never work. It has to be agreed and it has to be mandated. To be fair, it is what all the evidence says about civil society and how autonomous peer networks work. If we want to do this, there is a very clear way to it. I am conscious Ms Dunphy might want to say something about women, families and giving women a voice.