Patrick Costello (Dublin South Central, Green Party)
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The unfortunate nature of social change is that one can campaign for years and see very little, then lots can happen quickly. I apologise since I did not mean to talk down or say to campaign more. I was trying to encourage everyone to keep going because I think they have done good work so far. Please keep going. By linking them with other campaigners and activists, they can see what others are doing. It is always good to get support and solidarity and to swap ideas. I thank the witnesses for their work so far and ask them to keep going. The conversation about car parks reminds me that there were recent conversations about ending car parking outside the front of the building here, because it was pointed out that there is a big multi-storey car park just up the road that we could all just use. Not everybody in this building agreed with that suggestion. While I furiously agree with the witnesses, as I said, I appreciate that it is an uphill struggle. One can go for a long time without seeing results, but things can happen quickly if they go the right way. Our job is to support the witnesses in that work. I thank them for coming in and challenging us.