Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

The term "communications strategy" is broad enough to include everything and should remain, particularly as the wording has been strengthened so that it says it will provide for consultations. It is a central part of what the strategy shall include. That is also set out in section 11 under the heading "Strategic Plan". There is no question of alienating anyone in this section. It is a win-win situation. This is an area to which local residents have had no access in the past and they will now have access. There is development of facilities that did not exist in the past and to which local residents will have access. There is provision of education facilities in an area that did not have such extensive facilities in the past. The local community will gain much by living next to the Grangegorman site, which was behind closed walls for a long time, with the facilities unavailable to the local communities.

One of the key features of the partnerships throughout the country is that they all aim for training in self-empowerment. This is true of the southside partnership, the inner-city partnerships or the community development groups. They aim for self-empowerment for local communities and for individuals in communities. We offer self-empowerment for the local residents.

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