Ms Niamh McDonald:

We have supported some "for all" and community response groups across the country. I would say it is a mix, not just seasoned actors. We do not go in and tell communities what to do. Communities know how to respond themselves. Sometimes we just help to identify the different links that need to be brought together where people may never have worked together before. We are doing research on different communities which will be launched at the end of March. We want to highlight the themes that may be ahead for the "for all" groups. Right now, the far right is presenting itself as anti-refugee. We are seeing an increase in anti-LGBTQ hatred, linked with the anti-refugee mobilisations. We are quite worried about that, especially with regard to regional Pride groups coming into the summer. We are also worried about sex education and how that is presenting itself. Let us call the far right what they are: haters, dividers and fascists. Let us call them what people understand. That is what they are doing in our communities. They will present themselves in different ways. We also see that there is a possible reduction in city centre protests and that this may start to go out into more rural or tourist areas as the tourism season begins after St. Patrick's Day.

As the Chair said, we are coming up to the anniversary of the start of the war this weekend. We always have to stay one step ahead. This is way the "for all" groups and community groups need to be supported to be resilient and to understand what is happening and the changes that happen. Many new people are coming on as well as many old people. There is much goodwill across communities but they need support and we need political leadership on this.