Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 28 November 2013
17. Deputy Willie O'Dea asked the Minister for Social Protection if she is concerned by recent reports of food shortages from charities in Dublin; if she is concerned by rising food poverty here; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [50828/13]
View answerFood poverty refers to an inability to access a nutritionally adequate diet due to issues of affordability of, and access to, food, and that has related impacts on health and social participation. Inadequate food consumption is central to the understanding of poverty as exclusion from everyday life due to lack of resources. In recent years, there is specific focus on food poverty as a policy issue for two reasons: the structural constraints facing households in accessing food; and the links between food and nutrition and health problems, such as obesity, and cancer.
The World Health Organisation last month published the Review of social determinants and the health divide in the WHO European Region: final report, which states that “Social protection policies are critically important in shielding populations from the health effects of poverty and financial insecurity”. The Irish social protection system is highly effective in reducing the at-risk-of-poverty rate by 62 per cent (SILC 2011), as compared a 49 per cent reduction in 2004. The improved impact of social transfers reflects concerted and sustained State investment in social protection during this period, including the economic crisis.
The Department supports a number of interventions which address food poverty. The school meals programme is a targeted intervention for children at risk of food poverty and educational disadvantage. In 2013, the Department provided €37 million to fund direct food provision to almost 200,000 disadvantaged school-children, in over 1,300 schools or organisations. The Department also supports financially Healthy Food for All, a national charitable organisation which works to increase access and availability of affordable healthy food by low-income groups, including the development of community food initiatives.
Finally, a new initiative that the Department has started work on is the programming of the new Fund of European Aid for the most Deprived persons (FEAD). This will provide around €3m of EU funds annually to support efforts to allow charities dealing with the most marginalised people to buy food and consumables. My objective is to have this new measure fully operational in 2014.
