Mr. Mickey Brady:

I believe that the North South Ministerial Council would be an opportunity for the Minister in the North and the Minister for Social Protection in the South to actually sit down and discuss that. The longer it goes on, the more coercive the system in the North becomes, and more and more people are suffering. For instance, child poverty is a huge issue in the North. A survey done in my constituency some years ago showed that 39% of children in this constituency were living below the median level, which is appalling. When I was in Stormont there was a lot of talk about the childcare strategy. It has never been carried out. Like other members here, I have people coming in to see me who pay so much of their wages to cover this. It might be therapeutic to go out to a job they were doing before their children were born, but they are paying their entire wages for childcare because it is so expensive.

I have another question in conclusion. With regard to the all-island social security network, AISSN, I presume that the network is including bodies such as Advice NI, and the Free Legal Advice Centres, FLAC, both organisations that at times are at the coalface of social security systems.