A growing number of people in the State, including children, do not have enough to eat because they cannot afford a healthy diet, a new report on so-called "food poverty" has shown.
The vice-president of St Vincent de Paul, Mr John Monaghan, said it was a scandal in Ireland in 2004 that children were not going to school because there was not enough food to make their lunch, and that women were going without food to ensure the family would eat.
"There's a tendency for people to believe food poverty is simply being without food, but it's more than that. It's the inability to access food and the appropriate type of food," he said.
It was estimated that thousands in the State were at risk, and it was a growing problem.
The report, titled Food Poverty and Policy, by SVP, the Combat Poverty Agency and Crosscare, said those most at risk were living in low-income households, as well as the unemployed, elderly, homeless, Travellers and refugees/asylum-seekers.
Those at risk did not have enough to live on. They had limited access to transport to take them to supermarkets, which were often on the outskirts of towns. This meant they went to local, more expensive shops with less choice, the report said.
There was also the problem of the overproduction of less healthy food. Advertising aimed at children was a problem, too.
Those most likely to suffer ate less well, spent relatively more on food but not on healthy options, and had difficulty accessing an adequate variety of good-quality, affordable foodstuffs, it said.
It called for food poverty to be made a policy priority, and for a co-ordinated approach involving government and the corporate and voluntary sectors.