Marc Ó Cathasaigh
Question:560. Deputy Marc Ó Cathasaigh asked the Minister for Social Protection the progress of the food poverty working group; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5082/22]
View answerTuesday, 1 February 2022
Questions (560)
Written answers
The Roadmap for Social Inclusion 2020 – 2025, which was adopted by Government and published in January 2020, includes a commitment to ‘Develop a comprehensive programme of work to further explore the drivers of food poverty and to identify mitigating actions’ (Commitment 61).
The Food Poverty Working Group, which I chair, was established in April 2021 and aims to tackle the issue of food poverty in accordance with this commitment. Its membership consists of the Departments of Agriculture, Food and the Marine; Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth; Education; Health; Rural and Community Development; and Social Protection. The Society of St. Vincent de Paul, Crosscare and the Children's Rights Alliance are also members of this group.
The group met on four occasions in 2021, and is due to meet again in the coming weeks. The group has focused on two pieces of work to date. The first is a high-level mapping exercise of programmes, services and supports across Government that address food poverty and provide supports in this area. Data gathering is complete, and my Department is assessing how the data can be further used and disseminated.
The second piece of work is the development of a research proposal to analyse the prevalence of food poverty in three selected case study areas to identify the drivers of food poverty in each area and examine the range of service providers and actors relating to food poverty in each area. It should also identify any gaps and overlaps in service provision. The findings from this research should further inform the delivery of commitment 61 of the Roadmap for Social Inclusion.
I thank the Deputy for his question and hope this clarifies the matter.