Peter Roche (Galway East, Fine Gael)

I thank Mr. Egan and the other witnesses here with us this morning. They are most welcome. This is, in many ways, a very challenging conversation we are having and it is a very complex one to resolve. While we all have a national brief, one thing that concerns me is that in the west and north-west region we have the highest percentage of child poverty, and that includes my own county of Galway. I find that interesting. I would have thought that maybe we would not have been the highest. I am trying to understand the reasons for this. The witnesses might be able to throw some light on why we are the highest, and why we are different in that regard. I thought the population growth might have been greater in other regions rather than the west but I am anxious to understand how the witnesses might respond to that.