Ms Aoife Bairéad:

I want to make a broader comment on different forms of advocacy I have done over the years. I am not sure at what point the change in attitude happens as you go higher up, but what I see again and again is those in powerful positions, who are deciding strategies and budgets, having a strong wish for some of this to be simple and containable. One of the resistances to communities and community workers is that they highlight that there is demand on Government. This goes beyond the Departments of Health, housing, justice, social protection, education and children. I could keep going. This needs a systemic approach. There is a continual resistance and a wish to silo issues in a way that is not true to the lives of any person in Ireland, and particularly people who are vulnerable and in communities that have been left far too long without their basic needs being met, never mind the more enriching needs we would like to see met. I do not know why that is.

I understand why, when we ask about this in any of these forums, we are told we need the Department of the Taoiseach to lead it. I really wonder why people in those positions, Ministers and those in Departments, need their boss to tell them how to do this and why they would not wish to work together in this way. It really bothers me that this attitude continues and seems to be increasing rather than decreasing despite all of the research, the evaluations, the citizens' assemblies and other measures saying that these are systemic issues that have to be dealt with in a systemic way.