Naoise Ó Cearúil (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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98. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht when the next meeting is scheduled between his Department, the Department of Health and representatives of Women’s Sheds regarding the development of a national governing body; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [55997/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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I am committed to providing any support I can for the development of a national governing body for Women’s Sheds to ensure that individual Women’s Sheds can benefit from having a strong national representative body to advocate on their behalf. I am pleased that my colleague, Minister Jennifer Murnane O'Connor, shares my view.

To this end a number of meetings have taken place between representatives of women's sheds and officials from my department and from the Department of Health.

The most recent meeting took place just last week on Monday 6th October where discussions took place with the representatives of the Women's Sheds of Ireland to progress their work with the facilitator provided to them by both Departments.

The next steps will be for the representatives and the facilitator to develop a work plan as they determine what support might be needed as they move towards the development of a national governing body. These meetings will be ongoing in the coming months.

A specific date for the next meeting with department officials has not been confirmed, however both departments will continue to keep in touch with the process and further meetings will be scheduled in the coming months as required.