Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I am dividing my reply into two halves as regards my role. As part of my role in the Department of Rural and Community Development, I spend much of my week engaging with the community and voluntary sector through different platforms and different formats. I am very familiar with members of Community Platform. I meet with many of them periodically regarding different issues. I have not had a formal meeting with Community Platform as a collective since last year. A number of Ministers and I met the Taoiseach. We had an initial discussion about social dialogue but formal meetings with Community Platform, particularly on the issues the Deputy outlined, are not what I do as part of my remit at the Department of Rural and Community Development. However, with my Department of Social Protection hat on, there are opportunities that I mentioned in my opening answer.

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