the Government should not dismiss the finding in a UN report that Irish women are worse off than in any other industrialised country, says the National Women's Council of Ireland.
Instead, it should act on the findings in the 1998 United Nations Human Development Report, published this week, "and put the issue of women and poverty back on the political agenda as a top priority alongside that of solving long-term unemployment."
"The Government has put a major drive to solve the problem of long-term unemployment on the top of the poverty agenda," the council says in a statement.
"However, there appears to be a complacency and lack of concern in government and economic circles about the enormous issue of poverty among women as a very specific problem requiring urgent attention. Neither must the Government or the business community ignore the UN finding that Irish women still have relatively little power or influence in politics or business," it says.
"The fact is that only 20 of the 164 TDs in Leinster House are women and only three women are members of the Cabinet."
There seems to be a belief that the agenda for women has largely been solved, it says, but while "significant gains have been made on women's issues since the inception of the women's movement, there still remains enormous inequality between men and women."
The council adds: "Two key factors preventing women from raising their economic standing in this country are the inadequacy of child-care facilities and the fact that married women have restricted access to signing on the live register."
Adult education is the key to unlocking the poverty trap, the Minister of State for Education, Mr Willie O'Dea, said in a comment on the UN report. In the 14 months since he assumed office the budget for adult education had doubled, he said, adding that a Green Paper on adult education would appear shortly and would open a debate on every aspect of policy.