Ms Cliona Kelliher:

I refer to a point Ms Clancy made in that PPNs are under one Department and local authorities are under another. That instantly creates a difficulty because local authority staff do not necessarily understand what the PPN is or represents, even though it is embedded in legislation and has a clear role. From a local authority perspective, it may be misunderstood and is certainly not respected a lot of the time in terms of the input of representatives.

Another point Ms Clancy mentioned was the well-being statement. We have not done ours in Kildare PPN yet, but they are a good example of consulting with the community. It may happen that these well-being statements are taken and then local authorities replicate these types of engagements without referring to the completed document that consulted with communities. It has happened that work is doubled up on, or people are in silos and not communicating. Mr. Stanley-Smith referred to people doing consultations and not getting feedback and feeling as those they are not being heard. People get consultation fatigue. People who get involved in consultations are active citizens. They care about their communities. To see that feedback and work not being recognised or acknowledged is disheartening for people.