Mark Ward (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses. I apologise for having missed the opening statements but I have them in front of me. I have managed most things but co-location is not yet one of them.

I have a lot of grá for Dublin 8. I spent a lot of years working with an addiction service down there. It was a really good service that also had an after-school and a preschool programme in it. It took a holistic approach of developmental work whereby the developmental needs of both the parents and the child were captured under one roof. I have seen the benefits of that over the years. Only today I was talking to someone who was part of that programme and listening to how much that person and their family have progressed, so I absolutely see the need for these programmes.

My constituency, Dublin Mid-West, has some huge areas of disadvantage. I am from an area of high disadvantage and I was one of the children who would have really benefited from having a school lunch. I cannot put words on how much that would have benefited not just me but others. There was no stigma around the disadvantage because we were all in the same boat. The school lunch would have benefited me, my family, my neighbours and anybody I went to school with. We mentioned only last week in the debate on child poverty how difficult it is for children to progress if they do not have food in their stomach and a winter jacket, basic needs that sometimes we take for granted.

As for school completion programmes or after-school programmes, we had in my area a really successful one that was closed two years ago. I visited it just after I got elected. It was an organisation called the Get Ahead Club. It ran a really good programme. Despite my pleas and other cross-party pleas to the former Minister, it closed. It was one of those organisations whereby you see its benefits while it is there but you see the effects of not having something like it in your area only after it is gone. After the funding ceased, the organisation was no longer there and that has left a big gap in my area. It was literally only across the road from me.

A lot of the questions I was going to ask have been asked, so I will just touch on DEIS. People mentioned the DEIS criteria. I think it was mentioned that all children from marginalised and disadvantaged communities should have access to all community after-school projects in DEIS areas. In one part of my constituency there are four primary schools, three of which have DEIS status and one of which does not. I would not mind but the one that does not has in its catchment area some of the most disadvantaged areas and some of the highest levels of poverty across the whole constituency. It just does not make sense to me that those kids are excluded. I deal with the families. Some have to get food from the local food bank. They are trying to meet their kids' needs, and the fact that their school does not have DEIS status is really difficult. Do the witnesses believe the DEIS criteria and eligibility need to be looked at? Do they need to be widened? What would the witnesses change in the current DEIS eligibility that would make the scheme easier for schools to access?