THE Church of Ireland Primate, Dr Robin Eames, has appealed for the issue of poverty to be addressed in the North's Westminster election campaign.
"Is it possible that somewhere in the myriad of debate during these next few weeks, politicians will address the crying social need of poverty in Northern Ireland?" he asked.
Dr Eames, who was speaking at a conference on the issue in Belfast yesterday, said poverty was not an issue for a single political party nor was it confined to any particular religious group.
"There is poverty in the Protestant community as there is poverty in Roman Catholic areas" he said. "There are many causes... Many people yearn for the bread and butter issues to be faced fairly and openly."
Despite some of the strongest anti religious discrimination laws in Europe, Catholic men were still twice as likely to be unemployed as their Protestant counterparts, he said.
The Catholic Primate, Archbishop Sean Brady, said it was a human responsibility to love one another and to work for the creation of a more just society. The root causes of poverty had to be tackled, he said. "This is an issue that goes beyond all divisions of religion or race or politics."