Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 27 July 2021
1159. Deputy Seán Crowe asked the Minister for Social Protection if her Department and the HSE will provide funding to allow the charities that provide two soup runs in Dublin to remain in operation if the HSE close down on the foot of a HSE environmental health section report. [40766/21]
View answerMy Department has no role in direct funding to charity services. However, the Department of Social Protection is the designated managing authority for the Fund for European Aid to the most Deprived (FEAD) and has responsibility for the implementation of the programme in Ireland.
Support provided through FEAD aims to help people take their first steps out of poverty and social exclusion by addressing their most basic needs. There are 156 approved Local Partner Organisations/Charities currently operating the programme nationwide by receiving food products for distribution to recipients. In 2020, over 250,000 people were supported through this programme.
If the charity in question is a FEAD local partner organisation and is in receipt of food products for distribution, these food products will continue to be available for collection when the charity is operating.
