Children denied school meals due to lack of equipment
A charity has called on the Government to allocate €500,000 to allow the schools put the necessary arrangements in place, at an average cost of just €5,000 each.
The Healthy Food For All charity pointed to a lack of joined-up thinking as the Department of Social Protection has made €40m in funding available for school meals for all 850 DEIS schools but it is the Department of Education’s job to ensure they can avail of it.
Charity co-ordinator Sinead Keenan said schools could play a very important role in tackling food poverty among children.
“Food poverty is a serious problem for children and young people with one in five going to school or bed hungry because there is not enough food in their home.
“Indeed a report published in 2012 shows that one in six school-aged children report that they never eat a breakfast on a weekday.”
Norah Gibbons, the chairwoman of Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, backed the call.
“The value of breakfast clubs before school cannot be underestimated. Behaviours and concentration in class improve following breakfast. In addition, the presence of parents for school meals adds to the sense of community and fosters good relationships between home and school.”
They were speaking in advance of a conference on food poverty being held in Dublin this morning at which the rising numbers of people going without adequate food will be discussed.
Food poverty rose during the recession, from 10% of the population in 2010 to 13.2% in 2013 — an increase from 450,000 people to more than 600,000 in three years.
Healthy Food For All grew out of an initiative by Crosscare, St Vincent de Paul, and Combat Poverty and is now also backed by the HSE and Safefood Ireland.
In addition to ensuring all DEIS schools can provide school meals, the charity is calling on the Government to invest €2.5m in expanding the Community Food Initiatives programme so there is at least one in every county within the next five years.
The programme can help improve the availability of healthy food for low-income groups at local level through community gardens, cookery and nutrition classes, community cafes, supermarket tours, and budgeting courses.
