Mary Seery Kearney (Fine Gael)
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I apologise; I was online at the beginning of this session. I thank the witnesses for coming in. Their report is extraordinary.

I advocate for a particular group in society and in that context, people can ask questions and they are completely ignorant of the fact the question they are asking is highly offensive. They do not mean it but that does not make it any less offensive. It just perhaps makes it easier to forgive. It is when I sit down and engage with people. As I am a mother via surrogacy, people ask me very peculiar questions at times. It is when you sit down and have dialogue with people to say this is the terminology, this is how to refer to a family and this is how to do all these things that people then realise they know why it was offensive.

Do the witnesses have recommendations on how there could be feedback in a school because I am aware of the power imbalance? If you are a student and teachers are engaging in overt racism, how could that be overcome? It strikes me about that dialogue in saying they are being discriminatory about food or making references or something like that. Do the witnesses have suggestions on how we can practically engage and overcome that power difference?