Ms Karin Jonsson:

Regarding what families need now, one of our aims, and it is also part of the committee's work, is to end food poverty by examining the reasons for it and to end the policies that enable it. Ms Kiernan spoke about this in the context of single-parent households and their needs. The majority of families with children who access our services are single-parent households. I hope that work to ensure people do not live in poverty in general will not take too long.

In the meantime, for those of us who provide food and food banks, there should be more resources out there for us and they should be more easily accessible in order that we would not have to look so much towards fundraising, not quite knowing where all the food is going to come from. We have been part of the Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived, FEAD, programme since July last year, which is an immense support but, even at that, it provides for about 70 families what I would say is only a very small weekly shopping basket, and we give that out once a month.

School meals are essential, as we have seen during the Covid-19 pandemic. We supported many local schools in distributing the food and there was a very good uptake on that. We also saw parents' worry, concern and fear when the summer was coming because they were not sure whether the food would continue. In some schools, meals are not given to all the children and the kind of food that is given out varies. Shame comes into that. If it is only there for the poor ones, that is, those of us who cannot manage, some parents will choose not to access it even if they could do with it. These breakfast clubs and lunches should be completely open to all those who want them, not for those who qualify, such that the option will be there for every child in the school.

Covid-19 has brought many new families into poverty, that is, those who do not live in delivering equality of opportunity in schools, DEIS, areas or families who had never experienced it previously. If children could have access to breakfast and lunch every day of the school week, that would be a great help.