Denise Mitchell
Question:179. Deputy Denise Mitchell asked the Minister for Health the funding being provided to support family food initiatives nationally; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18167/19]
View answerThursday, 18 April 2019
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The Healthy Ireland fund was established in 2017 with an allocation of €5 million and with additional allocations of €5 million in 2018 and 2019. The first round of the Fund was distributed through Local Community Development Committees, Children and Young Person’s Services Committees and statutory organisations. The aim of the Fund is to support innovative, cross sectoral, evidence-based projects, programmes and initiatives that support the implementation of key national policies in areas such as Obesity, Healthy Eating, Smoking, Alcohol, Physical Activity and Sexual Health. The Fund is primarily administered by Pobal on behalf of the Department.
A range of community cooking and nutrition programmes have been funded by the Healthy Ireland Fund through allocations to Local Community Development Committees and Children and Young People's Services Committees. This funding amounted to €152,759 in 2017 and €201,597 in 2018.
The HSE Health and Wellbeing Division, through their Health Promotion and Improvement within CHOs, and in association with community partnership organisations provide training on nutrition and cooking to parents/families and other groups in disadvantaged communities through two types of Community Cooking Programmes - Healthy Food Made Easy and the Cook It. Both programmes are managed by Community Dietitians within the HSE.
In addition, Community Food Initiatives funded by Safefood aim to positively influence the eating habits of families with children in low-income communities across the island of Ireland. Safefood recently announced the recipients of funding for the 2019-2021 initiative, investing a total of €630,000 over the next three years to help each of the 14 successful projects set up, manage and sustain their work.
Since first launched in 2010, 30 communities across the island of Ireland have received funding under successive Community Food Initiatives. A key feature of the programme is that learnings and experiences from previous programmes are shared among the new initiatives. New initiatives are also encouraged and supported to enhance the long-term sustainability of their work from the outset.