Ms Michelle Gildernew:

Fáilte romhaibh go léir. I am delighted to welcome the reverend gentlemen. It is nice to see them again and follow on the discussions we have had in the past 12 months. I listened attentively to their contributions and believe there must be recognition that disadvantage does not just affect young Protestants. There are social and economic problems across Belfast which affect people of all persuasions. Part of the problem for working class unionist or Protestant communities is that for years their political leaders have been telling them that their life is shite and that they are worse off than others. If one looks at the deprivation statistics, the most deprived areas in the North are Nationalist, but there are other ways to monitor disadvantage.

I am very concerned also. I know that there are young people who are growing up not just in dysfunctional families but also in communities that need help and support. I was glad when the Reverend Trevor Gribben mentioned children's early years which are critical. We tried to get Unionist leaders in the Northern Ireland Assembly to understand it was far too late to wait until a child was five years old for early intervention to start, but we could not persuade them. It was very frustrating to hear Unionist leaders say intervening at the age of five years was time enough. It is not. Early intervention starts before a baby is born, in supporting the family unit, whatever form it takes, and giving people the skills to be good parents and to help prepare their children for an educational environment. If a child can never learn to play, it cannot learn how to learn. We have schemes such as Sure Start and Home-Start, but I could not persuade the Health Minister to understand the validity and importance of schemes such as these. The problem of social disadvantage will never be fixed unless we start at a very early age.

The 11+ transfer test is another issue. Unionists wish to see this test remain and the figures were cited. How do we square the circle? As the examination did not work for hundreds and thousands of young people, why is there a fixation with maintaining the system? For young people who have struggled through seven years in primary school, to be branded a failure before they move on to post-primary level does not help the perception of their place in society. Reverend Gribben said he had significant details. If there is a written submission on the issue, I would like to see it.

Disadvantage runs across communities. In this regard, we would like to hear the ideas of the Presbyterian Church. The Very Reverend Dr. Hamilton said they were not here to tell us what to do, but we would like to hear their ideas on how the Executive should act to tackle disadvantage, including their proposals to target on the basis of objective need.

I agree 100% that if a person gets off to a bad start, not only does it affect possible educational attainment, it also has an ongoing impact on mental health. It is very difficult for a person to take his or her place in society if his or her educational attainment is so low that he or she cannot find a job, of which the mental health impact can be very damaging.

I would like to make a suggestion that we invite representatives of the Fermanagh Trust because the work it has done is far above that done in any other area, of which I can give an example. There were protests outside a school a decade ago because it had a Catholic dinner lady, but the school is now involved in shared education with its neighbouring schools. It has been an absolutely huge success. The Fermanagh Trust is leading the way, but it has received good support from the bishops and others. The trust tells a brilliant story. We must understand that unless we get the right policies in place to help the children coming through, they will not be able to go to school and learn. I would love to see the figures the delegates have for the level of achievement at school, particularly Protestant boys in rural areas. The relationship any of us has with education is key to how we attain it. That seems to be lacking; when people are told for years that they are never going to come to anything, it is a self-fulfilling prophecy.