Ms Mary Freehill:

We worked together. The Deputy spoke about Germany, etc. I come back to the point that a co-ordinated plan is needed for the regions. One of our big difficulties is that national statistics and indicators keep being used. We need to make much more use of our regional indicators. I took that up at a recent meeting of the European Committee of the Regions when reference was made to 80% broadband coverage. That was probably the national figure. As we know, the provision of broadband in Ireland was left to the market and we saw what happened. The Minister, Deputy White, is doing a very good job in rectifying all of that at the moment.

Deputy Crowe referred to regional disparities. The European Committee of the Regions is extremely concerned about the urban indicators because the presence of the wealthiest people within a city means the existence of the highest level of poverty in the same city does not show up.

The Deputy also referred to those who are low paid. When we were waiting for the airplane with our Northern Ireland colleagues on our way back from Brussels the other day, they pointed out that salaries in the South are 15% higher, even among low-paid workers, than they are in the North. I suppose we are doing something right. That does not mean we do not have a very big challenge in that area.