Ms Liz McManus:

I will ask my two colleagues to give brief interventions at the end of my contribution. First, I thank the members for their questions and comments. It has been an extremely useful engagement and we have covered an awful lot of ground. We do not have time to respond to all of the points that were made, but the general points about the lack of female participation in politics, the issues of child care and the historical issues are very clear in terms of challenges we face as a society in the Republic. However, there are specific issues relating to Northern Ireland which are not simply issues for one community or the other but affect people across the board and which are the result of a conflict that went on for an extended period. I am speaking here of issues such as domestic violence, fear of reporting, paramilitary control of communities and poverty, which affect women's lives. These are issues that we need to develop mechanisms to overcome.

It is important to stress that women do have a role and a say, however limited. We must acknowledge that, because otherwise people will think that women are never able to say anything. One of the champions of Resolution 1325 in the Northern Ireland Assembly is a woman and an MLA. She also happens to be a member of the DUP. She came to Dublin, spoke at a conference in the Department and was extremely helpful in setting up the Westminster hearings. That is a form of influence that we have to acknowledge. At the major Women and Peace Building conference held in Belfast, keynote speakers included Dianne Dodds, MEP, and Baroness May Blood, who has been a champion for women over many years. She speaks very plainly and bluntly in a way that I find refreshing. There are voices out there but there is just not enough capacity built yet within society in Northern Ireland. We must encourage that.

I came into this hoping that we would get an action plan within Northern Ireland. That seems to me to be the optimal outcome, but we are not going to get it, in my estimation, although I do not think we should stop looking for it. What we can get and what we should be very forceful in ensuring is that the principles of the prevention of violence, participation by women, protection of women and promoting equality are progressed to a considerable extent. There is much goodwill among the parties towards this approach. I am very encouraged by today. If one looks at what is happening in Nigeria now it is obvious that had capacity been built there so that women had more of a say and some kind of control over their lives, it is less likely that such terrible actions could have taken place.

This committee is dealing with Northern Ireland and its relationship with the Republic, and in this regard there are issues relating to women upon which we can make considerable progress if we support those people in Northern Ireland who are already doing good work. I have named some of them already, particularly in the Anglo-Irish division. The money keeps coming and people keep applying for it. One of the surprises was that we could have done with more applications in the last round. The next round is in the autumn and I look forward to that kind of initiative being taken into the future.

I thank the committee members very much. They have been extremely supportive and obliging with their time. Finally, I would like to thank Ms Ciara Gilvarry, Ms Helena Keleher, Ms Orlaith Fitzmaurice and Dr. Melanie Hoewer, who have played a huge part in this project.