Ms Sarah Clancy:

I agree fully. We learned some of those lessons in the couple of referendums we have had recently, particularly the marriage equality referendum, where working-class communities voted in resounding numbers for change. I am from Galway and it was nearly 60:40, which is what you would imagine in a liberal, arty city. Yet there were working-class communities in Dublin with 83% "Yes" votes. I would say, however, that we cannot rely on communities with a vested interest in the status quoto change the status quo. The activists and marginalised will probably participate in change because the status quo does not serve them. At present, without bringing scientific definitions of class into it, the middle and upper-middle classes are doing okay.