Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)

I thank the witnesses for their statements and for taking the time to be with us today. All of the statements were really strong with regard to what we are trying to do on this committee. What we are trying to do is prepare and examine constitutional change and the constitutional future, how we prepare for that and how we ensure all voices are heard, and particularly for this piece of work that women's voices are heard and that we get to the hard-to-reach women in communities. I commend all of the work that has been done by the witnesses and others. I am aware of several pieces that have come before us here but work is being done as well at the moment by UCD and the University of Aberdeen, with Dr. Shelley Deane and Professor Joanne McEvoy. I am really looking forward to that because I am lucky enough that they are choosing Mayo as one of their sites, as well as Longford. The women I know in the community in Mayo will have an opportunity to shape something good and I think that is what it is about. It is about shaping it and how we shape it.

We have a unique opportunity to do that and to reset so many things. We saw that even in the context of the previous report we did on finance and economics, in standing back and looking at what our values are as a nation and how we can set something that serves everybody. Everyone will agree across all parts of the island that we have had that piecemeal effect, if you like, in terms of never having the opportunity to stand back, look at what our values were and how we shape that so nobody is left behind. What the witnesses have done is really valuable.

We are concluding this piece of work but we are conscious there are some gaps in our report. If there are groups the witnesses are working with and they think it would be good for us to hear from them, they might feed it into our clerk or Chair so we do not leave anybody behind in the particular conversation we are having now. I would ask them to do that in the next week because I know Ms Emma McCarron is doing a job in drafting up the report. I would appreciate that.

I want to ask about the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security, and its importance. I know Ms O'Connor has referred to it, and I have heard Ms Murphy speak about it. Could the witnesses speak to that for a moment, and why it is so important?