Mary Seery Kearney (Fine Gael)
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I thank the witnesses. Their work is extraordinary. Throughout this crisis we have begun to see at home how experienced the Red Cross is and that the past experiences of the Red Cross and the Irish Red Cross have crystallised for the Irish people. We get to see it first-hand because instead of doing work abroad, we have seen all the Red Cross is doing in Ireland. People are very proud of what the Irish Red Cross is doing and are very grateful that it is doing it in our names.

I played a very tiny role in the Vicar Street project through a Ukraine support group. I got a call a number of weeks ago on a Friday night about what we can do. I believe the Ukrainians are best placed to tell us what they need and we must respond to that as best we can and resource that as much as possible. I had a contact for Vicar Street. They said they needed a community centre and I said this was who they should contact. I then stepped away from it because they knew how to mind their own business and be in charge of what they need. It somehow felt patronising to say I thought we should do this or that. It is better to merely respond. I am delighted it is up and running. It could be in no better hands. There are very dynamic and extraordinary people at the helm and they, along with the Irish Red Cross, will make it a great resource.

I know this goes on in other conflicts but we have never quite experienced this weaponisation of citizens in the course of war, this forced migration of people as an element of war and one of the weapons of war, to overwhelm the surrounding countries and the European Union.

I am glad that thus far, we have not been overwhelmed but that we have embraced it and risen up.

One thing I have come across is, naturally, the trauma this has caused in relapses and addiction. It has caused a lot of difficulties like that. Other organisations such as Alcoholics Anonymous, which I had to reach out to earlier on, already had people across the country who could speak various different languages and could respond. Rather than having specific support groups we were told they could go to any support group of Alcoholics Anonymous and there would be people there who are cross-cultural and across all of the languages and who would be able to support them. This is one organisation that is already responding to the trauma as it is presenting in Ireland.

Engaging with other NGOs was mentioned. Is this more formalised? How do public representatives access that to assist with referrals? Generally, we might get a call. I got a call, for instance, about a relapse situation where someone was hosting a family and there were difficulties arising from that. For various other reasons, I had the wherewithal to be able to think about ringing Alcoholics Anonymous and putting all that together. Where there is community co-ordination, there are people who may need a centralised place to go to, or a website, or something along those lines. Is anything like that envisaged or already in existence that would be beneficial for us to know about?