Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their presentations and I congratulate them on the work they do. I have the utmost of respect for what the organisations do in difficult circumstances.

During the summer I travelled to Senegal. We visited some very remote parts of that country with the World Bank. I was struck by the numbers of young people who are children who were carrying children. Obviously it is the culture in Africa. Are the people in government committed to educating girls? Do they understand that there has to be a real step change in culture to try to address this issue? Do the witnesses feel that their engagement with the representatives' organisations is just tokenism, even through the type of social contract that the witnesses outlined? Are the people just tolerating the organisations or are they committed to a deep culture change?