Ms Cindy Barry:

In regard to training, I delivered some DRIVE training last Friday to front-line workers.

A lot of the county councils come to that, and especially people from the housing departments, because they have people coming in to them who are experiencing intimidation. They were very eager to learn and delighted that the DRIVE project is in place. I think there is a kind of a sigh of relief among a lot of us as front-line workers that something is bringing us together in terms of having a more integrated and structured approach to work with this issue. We really have been working by ourselves, blindly and isolated in our different services for a long time. It is nearly the perfect opportunity in that training room for us to share our experience and to learn from each other. It was powerful to be honest. There is not enough of that. There are so many different areas in the county councils and the homeless services and everybody is trying to hold their own and manage in the sector. We do not have enough reasons to come together to share our experience and share resources or to know who to refer to. There is such a gap in Ireland where people do not know what is out there and they do not know about the community-based organisations. The DRIVE training gives us the perfect opportunity for coming forward and they are hungry for information. They want to help people. They want to understand and to refer to us. It was really positive.