Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome all the Members. At the outset, I remind members of the joint committee that in order to have a duly constituted meeting and for it to proceed members are required to join the meeting remotely from within the defined precincts of Leinster House. I ask members and witnesses to turn off their mobile phones as they interfere with the recording system. As members are participating remotely from their offices, I ask that they would click on the raise hand icon at any point if they wish to contribute during the proceedings of the meeting and remain on mute until such time as I call them to speak.

I now turn to the main item on our agenda which is the discussion on the Roadmap to Social Inclusion. In this regard, I welcome the Minister of State at the Department of Rural and Community Development, Deputy Joe O'Brien, and his officials - Ms Geraldine Hurley, assistant secretary at the Department of Social Protection, Dr. Dermot Coates, the chief economist at the Department of Social Protection, and Ms Bairbre Nic Aonghusa, assistant secretary at the Department of Rural and Community Development.

Since 1997, as a country, we have put in place successive national strategies focusing on the reduction of poverty and social exclusion in society. Today we will look at and discuss the current strategy, which is the Roadmap for Social Inclusion 2020-2025. There are many different ways that we can measure poverty and deprivation but for me the most basic measure is hunger. We need to start addressing it by focusing on our children.

No child should go to bed hungry. A child will never reach his or her full potential if that child sits at a school desk hungry. According to a study by the State agency safefood, 10% of the population lives in food poverty yet we, as a food producing country, dump nearly 2 tonnes of food every minute. While there has been a welcome expansion in the school meals programme, what impact has Covid-19 had on the children who relied on these school meals not to go hungry? It is not just about hunger. It is also about the types of foods that families can afford to buy, which is contributing to the HSE figures indicating that one in five five year old children is either overweight or obese.

It is clear to this committee that Government policy can make a positive difference in addressing the fundamental issue of hunger, and improving people's lives and broader society as a whole. The roadmap has a stated ambition to reduce consistent poverty to 2% or less, and to make Ireland one of the most socially inclusive countries in the EU. With that in mind, I look forward to hearing from the Minister of State as to how likely we are to achieve this ambition.

Members of the committee and of the Houses have absolute privilege in respect of the statements made to either House of the Oireachtas or before the committee. By virtue of section 17(2)(l) of the Defamation Act 2009, witnesses, in this case, officials present in the precincts of Leinster House, are protected by absolute privilege in respect of the evidence they are required to give to the committee. If, in the course of the committee proceedings, witnesses are directed by the committee to cease giving evidence on a particular matter and they continue to so do, they are entitled thereafter only to a qualified privilege in respect of their evidence. They are directed that only evidence connected with the subject matter of these proceedings is to be given and they are asked to respect the parliamentary practice to the effect that, where possible, they should not criticise or make charges against a Member of either House of the Oireachtas, a Member outside the House, or an official by name or in such a way as to make him, or her identifiable.

I call on the Minister of State, Deputy Joe O'Brien, to make his opening statement.