'Literally ravenous': 25% of Irish families fearful over food poverty

A survey of more than 1,100 people, the majority with children, had found that a quarter were worried about not being able to provide food for children in their care, rising to 34% for those not working.

For Nuala O'Connor, a chef at a Barnardos centre in Dublin, food poverty in a young child is sometimes less about what they look like, and more about what they do.

“Sometimes you just know by looking at them, that they are not getting what they need," she said. “Then we have had children over time [who are] literally ravenous, literally taking it with their hands, they can't get enough of it into their mouths and can't get it in quick enough.