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Food Poverty

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 3 May 2018

Thursday, 3 May 2018

Questions (3)

Willie O'Dea

Question:

3. Deputy Willie O'Dea asked the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection her views on the fact that one in three calls to an organisation (details supplied) are about food poverty; her plans to address poverty and social exclusion; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [19263/18]

View answer

Oral answers (6 contributions)

There is a lot of evidence, both anecdotal and official, that food poverty is still widespread in the community. I want to ascertain whether the Government has given any thought to targeting this problem in the forthcoming budgetary measures.

I express my admiration for the work of the wonderful organisation that is the Society of St. Vincent de Paul in assisting vulnerable persons the length and breadth of the country. My Department works very closely with it in addressing many issues that affect vulnerable persons, including food poverty.

The Deputy may not be aware that my Department administers the Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived, FEAD, which has been rolled out to all EU countries and provides food and basic consumer products for people most at risk. My Department’s FEAD budget for this year is €8 million, of which €4.5 million has been allocated to ongoing food distribution, with the remainder allocated to the distribution of material assistance in the areas of homelessness, school kits for children who need them and new migrants who may have little more than the clothes on their backs when they arrive.

In 2017, through a network of charitable partnership organisations, the Department distributed almost 1,000 tonnes of food to over 80,000 people in communities throughout the country, either in the form of food parcels or as meals prepared by charitable organisations. In 2017 FEAD assisted 26 Society of St. Vincent de Paul conferences or regions through the provision of food from the three FoodCloud Hubs depots in Tallaght, Cork and Galway. I had the privilege recently of visiting the FoodCloud Hubs. It is an initiative which was started by two wonderful women and which is going a bomb. I wish them well with it. The total value of food collected and distributed by the FoodCloud Hubs was in excess of €650,000, on top of the €8 million we spend, and consisted of 205 tonnes across 23 food product ranges that are available through the FEAD programme.

In addition, the school meals programme provides funding to provide a breakfast for all children and lunch for up to 90% of children attending DEIS schools for the entire school year from September to June. For the first time in many years, breakfasts are also available to some schools outside DEIS allocations. Funding towards the cost of providing school meals is being provided for over 1,580 schools and other organisations, supporting over 248,000 children, at a cost of some €54 million in 2018.

It is fair to say we are very well aware that people are in situations where they are being deprived of basic food standards. We have taken this issue seriously and significantly resourced measures to ensure we will address their needs.

I am, of course, aware of the FEAD programme. Let us be realistic, however, and acknowledge that it is a drop in the ocean. I am also, of course, aware of the school meals programme. Nevertheless, in a recent analysis the Society of St. Vincent de Paul indicated that the number of calls it was receiving had risen since last year and that one in three was related to food poverty.

For people who depend on social welfare or who are in low-income jobs, there is no flexibility in the cost of utilities, housing, education. They have no control over those costs and must meet them. That means the only discretion they have is on how much they spend on food. There is widespread evidence that people are cutting back on food. The problem is still widespread, despite the recent economic growth. Has the Government considered more comprehensive targeting of food poverty, particularly among children?

The primary role of the Department, through social welfare income supports, is to sustain an adequate standard of living for the people we serve and to prevent poverty, including food poverty. The Irish social welfare system is regarded as quite successful in that role. In 2016, the most recent year for which we have data, the social transfers reduced the at risk of poverty rate from 33.6% to 16.5%. That represents a poverty reduction of over 51% of the population affected.

I know what the Deputy is saying but we can only strive through programmes such as the social inclusion programme and the national anti-poverty strategy to ensure that if there are areas and particular measures that need to be implemented or areas that we are missing, they are identified and addressed. While I appreciate the Society of St. Vincent de Paul's survey results which were released some weeks ago, and while I do not doubt them for a second, it did not qualify the amount of support that it receives from the State. The Society of St. Vincent de Paul tells me that it is exceptionally grateful for the support it receives. Regardless of who was in my position, if we had more money to give it, we would do so because of the value of the services and support it offers.

Through the national inclusion strategy and the national anti-poverty strategy, which are ongoing, I will look at and review the funding mechanisms we provide. What we are doing is working and we need to continue it.

The school meals programme is an example of targeting in this area. Will the Government consider its extension? It deals with lack of food and ensures that the food provided to children is nutritious and healthy.

Is the Minister aware of the recent study undertaken by the Vincentian Partnership for Social Justice which focused on the higher cost of having a teenager? The Minister will probably be aware of this personally. There is plenty of anecdotal and official evidence that this is an area which would benefit from special consideration. I take it from the Minister's response that she will examine the total social welfare allocation to see if there can be some specific targeting on this area.

I will speak about the school meals programme in a moment, as we will make an announcement on it in coming weeks. I hope to see it extended and expanded, but I do not get to choose the list of schools. It is provided by the Department of Education and Skills. We just deliver on it and provide the funds. I hope and expect that it will be expanded.

I have a couple of those teenagers at home in my own house and I know exactly what the Deputy speaks of. I did see the report by the Vincentian Partnership for Social Justice. I was aware of the matter from last year's budget. I would ask the Deputy not to be smart. When we increased the qualified child increase, QCI, I would have loved to have been able to say that it would be X amount for those under 12 years and Y amount for those over 12 years, but there was not a huge amount to give away. I would like to see if we can address that this year as no one can argue that it costs more to feed, clothe and house a teenager than a smaller person. We do need to address that this year, and with the Deputy's help and that of the House, I hope we will be able to do it.

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