Journalist Fintan O'Toole says he will work to make the eradication of child poverty the priority issue for the next government.

The columnist also says that it is unrealistic to expect quality public services amid cuts and poor investment.

Mr O'Toole says his campaign, which will be launched in the autumn, will be centred around the centenary of the 1919 Democratic Programme.

The historic document states that the Government has a duty to children in the State.

Irish Times journalist Fintan O'Toole says that his plans to tackle child poverty will be fully costed:

Mr O'Toole made the comments during an in-depth interview with Shane Coleman on The Sunday Show, where he discussed his plans in detail, as well as commenting on the political scene in Ireland generally.

On the ongoing Irish Water controversy, he observed "what I'd like to see happening... is for it to be taken off the political agenda. [It would be a] real test for the Irish political system to have a National Forum which forces people from different perspectives to take seriously the protests."

When asked by Shane if he would consider running for election himself, Fintan explained, "maybe in absolute desperation, if you were getting nowhere, you might have to think about that. I'd be much more interested in trying to put together a really large scale coalition in Irish society."

You can listen back to the full interview via the podcast below: