Ms Suzanne Connolly:

I agree with the Deputy that a lot is asked of schools and teachers. Barnardos tend to bring the resource into schools and teachers appreciate that because they already have so much on their plate. Also sometimes, for things like a national wellbeing programme, the Roots of Empathy programme or the friendship programme, but particularly the other two, children are observed in a different way. The teachers are invited to participate if they wish or certainly to observe and teachers find that to be a very useful resource. I believe that it is crucial that we do not put extra pressure on teachers.

On where resources should go, that is a difficult problem because, as members will know, some areas have loads of resources and some have less, so there needs to be equality with regard to resources. The committee needs to be aware of the areas that are resource intensive and those that are less so. I believe that it is crucial that resources are targeted at the areas with less resources, which the members will know of themselves. An example is the relationship between Barnardos and the library in Cappoquin. There is a library literally across the road from our building. It is a fantastic but really small library yet the library lends Barnardos rooms for resources, which is a really good community partnership. Local communities can be fantastic where agencies work really well together. We need more of such collaboration and, ideally, from the ground up.