The statistics published last month were deeply worrying, especially insofar as they concerned child poverty, and I am glad the Deputy has raised the matter. Discussions at North South Ministerial Council meetings, especially at plenaries, cover a wide range of matters including economic issues relevant to this topic. There are also individual measures within the current areas of North South cooperation which touch on this issue such as, addressing educational underachievement, access to health services and supports for job creation.
One of the target support groups of the EU PEACE 111 programme, which is channelled through the Special EU Programme Body (SEUPB), is people who have been excluded or marginalised from economic, social and civil support networks as a result of sectarianism or racism and which includes young people and minority communities. We are actively working to bring about a PEACE 1V programme to continue work in this area. I will raise these important poverty issues at the next Plenary meeting of the NSMC in June 2012.