Ms Miriam Holt:

I agree with everything the Senator said.

What we are tasked with at local level is around confidence building. We have seen very strong women come through our projects. We work in collaboration with other organisations, including the NCWI, on how to help women progress and supporting them around that. We recognise we are not the experts in that, nor should we be, but we know who are.

I mentioned that we bring local politicians into the projects. We do not look at whether they are a man or a woman. The women in those projects do not either. It is about what the issues are, what people represent, whether they know about women's lives and what they can do for those women. We see the women's caucus as a vital way forward. Our WCI Limerick project was the first to host a local women's caucus. We are working behind the scenes as well, even though our work is on the ground and is community education. We are advancing women's leadership through that.