VOICES FROM THE FLOOR:I really want to see things done differently. I work for an organisation – Men's Development Network – for men living on the margins. I want to see the way men are struggling taken into account.
It is about empowerment and participation – to work with men, support them to live with their lives whether they are Travellers, unemployed or homeless.
This is a great way to work and I come with my beliefs and prejudices. People are from different groups and have very different views.
At our table we’ve had some ‘pulling and dragging’ in our discussion and that has an energy. Everybody is getting heard and hearing things that they never heard before. I’ve heard new things and I think others have heard things from me they’ve never heard before.
I think there should be an action to mobilise around for one piece of change, then another action for another change. I’m 60 next birthday and for me it would be something like health. I know the two-tier system is unsustainable. I’m alive with a bypass and the VHI paid my huge bill. I have paid in for the last 38 years but I’ve got my money back but I don’t know how long I will be able to keep paying the VHI.