Mr. Paul Ginnell:

I imagine Deputies and Senators will be aware that the fund for European aid to the most deprived grew out of what was originally the food aid scheme dating from the time of food surpluses. It has become a broader way of distributing food surpluses and giving specific aid. This is a useful time to consider the scheme because it is being re-written at European level. Ireland has special access to the debate because our Dublin MEP, Emer Costello, is acting as rapporteur to the Bill. We had been very involved in the debate. One of our main concerns is that any new scheme coming through should not take away from long-term development. There has been a debate within the European Commission and at the European Council, especially during the budget debate, about whether the money for this fund, which is effectively an emergency aid fund for the most disadvantaged, should be taken out of the European Social Fund. As far as we are concerned it is most important that the two are dealt with separately because it does not make sense to provide food aid to people but not the long-term supports and serious solutions which can help them to move out of poverty.

We are keen for the scheme to be used in a way that allows organisations which are distributing food aid and other types of aid - the scheme is now broader than simply food aid - to see it as the beginning of a longer-term engagement with people in need. It should not simply be a matter of giving a food package to someone who is homeless. We should use it as an opportunity to talk to that person about how he can access housing and welfare and how he can begin to get his life in order in terms of education, drug abuse and so on. It is important that the aid is distributed to organisations which have the capacity to work in this way or, at least, which have thought about how to do that properly.

We believe it is important that the programme is not confined entirely to food aid. There is a scheme here, the Bia Food Bank initiative, which has made a proposal to the committee that some of the money should be used to set up an infrastructure for distributing aid but also used for what is known in Scotland, where this is done rather well, as start-up packs. This means a person does not simply get food but also the things he needs to start a new independent life. The idea is to help such a person back on the road to an independent life. The monitoring mechanisms put in place should involve organisations with a broad interest in helping people out of homelessness and poverty, as well as the Departments involved in distributing the food and the monitoring committees at local level. These are some of the concerns we have brought to the committee. Some weeks ago we sent in a submission in writing.