Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

-----then we are storing up problems for ourselves in terms of the future of the island. That is my main outstanding concern. Having been a Minister for Foreign Affairs, with experience of where some of the support for certain groups comes from, I believe we need to do an awful lot more to ensure the Good Friday Agreement has a social and economic dividend. It was never meant to be just about the absence of violence; it was much more than that. The aim was that people in Northern Ireland, particularly those on the lowest incomes, the most vulnerable and those at risk of poverty, would see the benefits. The fact that 46% of children in west Belfast are living in poverty, according to the most recent survey, is a damning indictment.

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