Ms Steph Hanlon:

I welcome the comments and the spanners the Senator threw in, because they provide a good, ample opportunity for everyone present to clear the air and address some of the concerns that have been brought forward, which is important. It is a good space for dialogue. We have to be really careful. The Senator mentioned how people have a fear of the unknown and that is important to recognise.

We are in a time of unprecedented change and a period of crisis. This is the society of crisis we are living in at the moment. While the Government has to face and deal with these unprecedented crises, so do communities. There is a cost-of-living crisis, a housing crisis, a healthcare crisis, a public service crisis and an environmental crisis. The levels of uncertainty and fear in communities are huge. They are humongous. As Ms Ní Chonchubhair mentioned, this needs to be tackled at a structural level. We need to look at the root causes of why communities that are not far right, not extreme, not Nazis or fascists are being mobilised. As we said, if tomorrow there were no refugees in this country, people would still be being mobilised.

Let us look at the wider context of this. Structural inequality is not just part of the problem, it is the problem. It is the cause. It is violence that is being perpetuated by communities at a structural level. There is institutionalised racism, sexism and poverty and this deep inequality is widely recognised. History has taught us one thing, which is that it is in times of deep violence and inequality, the seeds of fascism can take hold. It is imperative that members of the Government recognise that when policy is violent towards people, where there is institutional inequality and violence in whatever shape or form, whether it is ageism, ableism, what-have-you, that is where these issues take root. That is where people are afraid for their futures, their livelihoods, the future generations and their children.

That is why people look for somewhere else to turn. It is because they have lost all trust in the establishment. We must recognise that this is an emergency. We are also talking about funding for the community and voluntary sector.

To reiterate my background, I am an academic and I am very proud to teach on a community work and community development programme. We must recognise the roots of community work and community development work. Community has a very radical agenda. When we talk about building capacity and empowering communities, that is very different to some of the Government policies that have been actively disempowering many communities across the country. We must recognise a different vision of community work. That is one that every person here has been involved in; one that is not paid, that is active citizenship, participation and civic engagement in civil society, not this diluted, depoliticised notion or conception of community as an extension or arm of the State where people are held accountable. People should be able to critique and criticise the State whether or not they are employees of organisations that receive funding from the State. That is imperative to a flourishing democracy but also representatives of the State being able to recognise and reflect on some of the mistakes or the actions they are doing that is causing this harm in the first place.

I want to tie this in with the point that was previously touched on in regard to language. I refer to the far right and this conflation of the far right and the far left. As one of the key organisers of the Ireland for All march, that was put out as a call to the Government and on the Government. The organisers, speakers, people who participated in that march were all highly aware of the root causes. This is not just due to people in the community who are all fascists. This is due to Government policy over decades: deliberate choices that have led to these crises in the first place, which have created the conditions for the far right to thrive, exploit, weaponise, and recruit. When we talk about these issues, we must recognise there is a context and background to everything.