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Big Society Agenda

I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Airdrie and Shotts for her apt comments. Northern Ireland is a special case because we are coming out of the legacy of conflict and therefore require the resources to help the people who want to build that shared, reconciled society, which we all want to see not only in the north of Ireland but throughout the whole of Ireland. We must take on board the fact that we have the emerging migrant populations that have come to live there as well. Our civil society is concerned that it will have to fill the gap that will be left as the Government cut into many of the services that currently operate through the public sector. In his address, the shadow Secretary of State referred to the role of Home-Start. Home-Start provides a valuable service to many families who require help at difficult, vulnerable times, but it has become a victim of the cuts. It deserves to receive funding, not only through the voluntary sector network, but from Government too, because in many ways it supplements and replaces the work of Government, particularly in rural communities.