Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

In fairness, the local authorities are often asked to take on additional responsibilities and they are not given the funding at a national level, which is an issue. What should be done is that we should utilise more the great potential of local authorities. There is a willingness there. Most people in the Oireachtas have come through local authority membership themselves and we have ongoing contact with them on a daily basis. There is a lot of knowledge and know-how that could be utilised to supplement the work the various women's groups are doing. I know the value of the work of the women's groups and I wholeheartedly endorse it.

I have a question for Ms DeSouza, and she might come back to me on it. The Civic Initiative involves 100 randomly selected citizens. Is that from all of the island or Northern Ireland? How representative are those people? They are randomly selected people that we hope are representative but there must be some method for trying to ensure that there is a cross-section of society.

The great contribution and work of the Northern Ireland Women's Coalition in a very difficult political atmosphere in the lead-up to the talks that resulted in the Good Friday Agreement often goes insufficiently recorded. Eileen Weir is in Ms DeSouza's group. In the early part of March 2023, as Chair of the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly, we held a meeting to mark the 25th anniversary of the agreement. It was very much based on the work of the women's groups and other women's organisations at that time. We wanted them to give us an outline of the work that they did and the challenges they faced at that time. We must ensure there is adequate support for women's organisations.

I always heard people participating in the Civic Forum being much more laudatory of its work than Ms DeSouza. I refer to people from the trade union sector and the voluntary sector who complained bitterly to me after its demise that it had not been continued by the Executive and the parties represented in Stormont at the time. She might come back on that.

Ms DeSouza also mentions that, statistically, Northern Ireland is one of the most dangerous places in Europe for women, with femicide levels outranked only by Romania. That is terrible, as is the violence against women in our own State. Of course there should be an all-Ireland approach to trying to deal with gender violence and violence against women. It is very important and nothing should get in the way of dealing with that issue in as robust and comprehensive way as is possible.