Sir, – As we face into winter and the Christmas period, I am deeply concerned about the level of food poverty that has seeped into every community in Ireland. The hot school meals programmes running in schools and community settings are a lifeline for thousands of families impacted by food poverty. But in four weeks’ time, doors will close for the holiday period, leaving many of these families anxious about where the next hot meal will come from.
In a country as wealthy as ours, there is no justification for young children going without something so vital to their health and wellbeing as nutritious food. The Government must step up and ensure that schools and community groups are supported to deliver food for the children and families who need it most.
This time last year, the Children’s Rights Alliance ran a food provision scheme for our members providing direct food support to the children and families they work with in the run-up to Christmas. The demand was over six times what we could provide for. The heartbreaking reality is that one year on, we are not much further along in ensuring vulnerable children are supported over the holiday period.
Once again, we see our Christmas scheme completely oversubscribed. We received applications totalling over €350,000 – four times what we can provide.
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To put that in context, that is 8,100 children and 3,123 families in need of support.
Among the applications are our members, family resource centres and even primary schools, seeking to support children and families experiencing homelessness, addiction issues, and domestic violence. What I find deeply troubling is some are seeking to provide food for every child in their class – that is how pervasive this issue has become.
The cost of living crisis rages on and continues to have a major impact on children, particularly those in vulnerable households. The Children’s Rights Alliance, alongside our members, will do everything in our power to reach the children and families who need our immediate support. However, we need systemic change and sustained support to truly address the issue of holiday hunger.
We cannot live in a country where we know children in every country will be going hungry at Christmas and nothing is done about it.
We urge the Government to put a system in place that ensures children do not go hungry. The existing community infrastructure and relationships with schools and youth services are best placed to identify and reach the children and young people most in need. They need to be utilised so that we are not staring down the barrel of the same problem at the next school holiday. – Yours, etc,
TANYA WARD,
Chief Executive,
Children’s Rights Alliance,
Smithfield,
Dublin 7.