Ms Liz McManus:

This is not tangential to Deputy Byrne's points. One of the key issues must be women's empowerment in terms of mediation and peace brokering. Women are so often excluded. If women are in that process and have power in it one can then see considerable progress but the reality is that rarely happens. If one looks at the example in Northern Ireland, the women's coalition was very effective, although those involved got terrible abuse. To be fair, other parties tried their best to include women. In many parts of the developing word, where there is conflict, women are powerless when it comes to political decision making. That must be of primary concern, because whatever about the cultural issues, if women are not there to argue their case, one is at a significant disadvantage. That is central to the work of the national action plan.