A lot of teachers are not even aware of the poverty. Unless you are confronted by it, you are not aware of it. They read about it in relation to crime but they are not aware of the social injustice. Children born into those circumstance are innocent. The pupils in middle-class schools will be the leaders of society. If you try to confront them about these issues, it must influence them. At this age, children are very self-righteous, they are black and white, they never think that their counterparts in inner-city areas were born into it.

There is a need to confront this issue but not enough is being done. With the weakening of the churches' influence, a vacuum has developed. You are depending on the media. But those within the media generally come from the same background and are not sympathetic to the question of justice.

For children who come from areas of neglect and deprivation, an insensitive comment early in the life of a child can turn that child totally off. In the classroom, teachers have a tremendous responsibility and an opportunity in how they respond to children. If a teacher is dismissive because a child has not brought his copy-book or has not done his homework, that can have damaging consequences.

Educators in the prison service have come across people of great talent. The saddest thing is that this talent has not been discovered by the time they come to prison - unlike children in middle-class areas.

Teachers, the unions, have tremendous influence if they want to use it. They form a very influential group, a powerful lobby group which is very sympathetic. A number of teachers are genuinely concerned but you do need a central policy in doing it as well. They do need resources.

Many people who end up in prison are street-wise in many ways, but they are very poorly informed about basic things. An independent group whch visited the prison to give women prisoners some classes in personal hygiene was shocked that so many girls did not have a clue about their own bodies. Yet most of them have at least one child.

In an interview with Catherine Foley