Ms Tanya Ward:

I thank the Chair. We are delighted the committee has focused on child poverty. The questions from members show they all have a good sense of the challenges and issues. If we can support the committee in any way in future, we will be delighted to do so. One thing mentioned by one of the members concerned the EU child guarantee. Something the committee might think about in future is keeping an eye on the implementation of that measure. The Government will be submitting an action plan to enable it to draw down funds from the European Social Fund, ESF, at 5%. That provides an opportunity for the whole of Government to do many different things to try to address the issues faced by our most vulnerable children. To date, the Irish Government has been the most active and present in the EU discussions in this area and it is brilliant to see that. If the committee were to focus on the ongoing implementation of the Government’s work in this area, that could make a big difference in encouraging Departments across the board to allocate funds to run initiatives to help the most vulnerable children in the country.