Human Resources committee  I think there would have been a prevailing attitude in Ireland 20 years ago that if we solved unemployment, poverty would be solved, and the fact that the economy turned around and we had full employment really concentrated the mind on the structural issues that were preventing certain groups from escaping from poverty.

Human Resources committee  Can I just add something in relation to child care?

Human Resources committee  I suppose there has been a focus in Ireland on child care as a workforce activation measure as opposed to a more holistic view of child care in terms of what is in the best interests of the child. A recent development here has been the establishment of an office for the Minister for Children, with responsibility for looking at that, and it's brought together different policy areas--including health, education, and some elements of justice--to look at that issue.

Human Resources committee  I suppose that in terms of communities we would have a very strong belief that people experiencing poverty have a big role to play in working together to tackle poverty within their own communities, but they need support and resources to do that. Ireland has a widespread community development program with community development projects, and I think there are 292 community development projects around the country in which people are undertaking anti-poverty work at the community level.

Human Resources committee  I think what Kevin has said is right, that public opinion and public attitudes probably are very important in actually getting the process going. However, I think political leadership is very important in terms of sustaining the progress that's made. The third thing I'd say is that there needs to be a strong focus on building the capacity of the various actors that you need to mobilize, because in tackling a lot of the issues, sometimes it's a case that people, first, aren't aware of the issues, and second, just don't know what to do about them once that's happened.