Ms Anastasia Crickley:

I will be brief and I will not go back again on points that colleagues have so eloquently made. A number of points raised by the Senator are very interesting and useful. There is perhaps a value in not using the term "far right" all the time, lest we give it too many wings or names, but it does exist and it is important that we do not ignore that.

I strongly believe that we have a right in a democracy to hold up a mirror to that democracy. I believe that the role funded organisations play in doing that is a significant and very important one in this democracy and in other ones. It is very important that we are able to do that, and that there is not political vetting or any sort of vetting of the activities engaged in by those organisations, provided that they are within the law and for the purpose intended under the funding.

It is very important that the paid efforts of community work, as well as the voluntary efforts of many activists are acknowledged. To be fair to the Government, our strategy for sustainable, inclusive and empowered communities, which is a five-year strategy, at least verbally, does give voice to this. There are the beginnings of some things to implement it. We have the infrastructure in place and we must ensure that it is implemented and that civil society has the right to have a say and will continue to have it.

As regards last Saturday, many people, including me, felt that this was a unique occasion. As members might think by the looks of me, I am past the time when I should be walking up and down the street on a Saturday afternoon but I felt it was a unique occasion to voice what we were for and to be there to articulate that message. I felt the way it was done was not in any way abusive of anybody, but a clear statement of the diversity that is now and always has been part of Ireland. We should acknowledge and salute it on that basis.

It is correct to say that things are changing and there will be other things that will come up, but this is the one that we must deal with now and I feel we cannot avoid it. I thank members for the questions. They were very useful.