Pilot programme to tackle children's 'holiday hunger' to launch next summer

Taoiseach Simon Harris has said he wants to see work done in the upcoming budget to assist families and ensure children are fed over the summer months.

The Government is currently evaluating a pilot project to tackle holiday hunger for children, with a planned target launch of summer 2025.

Taoiseach Simon Harris has said he wants to see work done in the upcoming budget to assist families and ensure children are fed over the summer months.

A senior Government source said Mr Harris wanted additional funding allocated to the Department of Social Protection to deal with ‘holiday hunger’ — where children are left without adequate meals over the summer break.

Work on the proposal is ongoing within the Department of the Taoiseach’s child poverty unit, with research also having been carried out by the Department of Social Protection.

This includes the Government’s food poverty action plan, which says a scoping exercise to deal with holiday hunger should be looked at.

It says that, following an evaluation of the Hot School Meals Programme, “holiday hunger is an issue that requires a broader Government response”.

“As the school meals programme is procured through the schools and would not be available during the holidays, a new ‘Holiday Hunger’ programme would need to be piloted based on the numerous programmes already in place nationally through NGOs and charitable organisations,” it adds.

In 2021, Social Protection Minister Heather Humphreys provided funding to schools through the summer months to allow them to provide food parcels to pupils outside of term.

Vulnerable groups

The action plan also says further data is needed for both rural and urban areas, for vulnerable groups like low-income households, single parents, unemployed individuals, those with disabilities and the Travelling and Roma communities.

Work on a new food and nutrition policy is also being undertaken by the Department of Health, with it seeking to provide education and awareness around healthy eating.

The Children’s Rights Alliance has backed Mr Harris’s call, with chief executive Tanya Ward saying the Hot School Meals Programme has been very successful but there are gaps over the holiday breaks.

“The summer is often a crisis for families, as is Christmas, because the school is closed and what they will say is ‘school is a lifesaver’ [as] the fact that their kids are being fed every day,” she said.

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Ms Ward said it was “very difficult” for children and young people to concentrate in both school and youth services while hungry.

“There’s a huge amount of shame attached to being hungry,” Ms Ward said.

What I always find very disturbing as a campaigner when people are dealing with poverty is the shame that children and young people feel when they’re living through this.

“When their clothes are in bad condition, when their clothes aren’t washed, when they’re hungry, it’s a real reminder of the situation they’re in.”

The CRA has estimated a pilot project to deal with holiday hunger through existing community infrastructure, including summer camps, would cost in the range of €1m.