Sharon Keogan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I missed a lot of the opening statements because I was in the Seanad. My sincere apologies. I heard Ms Smith speaking. She is a wonderful role model and advocate for others. Her story needs to be told a lot more. Although she had to fight hard to get to where she is, she has managed to do so. There are barriers there but Ms Smith was able to break them down.

I am very much aware of child poverty in this country. I work a little with and know a little about the work done by KS Food Appeal in the midlands. Some of the testimonies online are heartbreaking. They are from children with regard to going hungry or their parents going hungry without food on their table. These are real stories and children are in poverty every day. They go to school hungry and probably come home to one meal a day on the table. Food poverty is extremely real in this country. People would want to believe it.

My questions may have answered it already. The representatives from SPARK spoke about examples of what they consider to be a model statutory maintenance system from an OECD country. To which country and model were they referring? Is there a model that is best practice which operates in other countries but which we do not have? Perhaps this has already been answered and I missed it. If so, I apologise.