Ms Rose McGowan:

I will not reiterate what the representatives of the two other organisations said because we are all on the same page. A couple of issues, both for me personally and for the society, arise. It is difficult to come to the Society of St. Vincent de Paul for help, but imagine that in 2021, people in Ireland were phoning us looking for food. It is horrendous for us in Ireland to say people are short of food. It reminds me of Famine times.

I have been in the society for a long time, since school, and I can see the different kinds of help people are now looking for. When I joined, we might have been bringing shopping to houses where people were not able to budget, and we would try to show them that, if they bought a week's shopping, it would be a better use of their money. Now, people are queuing outside food banks for food when they are short. The pandemic has definitely exacerbated circumstances. Children were at home from school, and when that is the case, as anyone who has children will know, the fridge is constantly being opened and food is being eaten.

A big issue for us relates to dignity. It is difficult for people to ask for help where they do not have enough food. People may have to get it through the FEAD programme, which is of excellent quality but do people really want to have to collect food from a food bank or to be hoping the school would know they are in need? Hundreds of people come to our food banks and we are quite happy to operate them with our volunteers. Before Covid, we delivered food in order that people would not have to queue. During the first lockdown, because we are in every community, other community organisations worked with us, such as the Garda, which was excellent, and GAA clubs. We are confidential, however, so we need to be really careful in how we deal with people. The quality of the food is excellent, but one person may not eat rice, for example, and another may not eat pasta. People are entitled to choice but we hand them bags or boxes of food where there is no choice. That, to me, is not dignified.

I fully agree all schools should be in the school meals programme, not just those in DEIS areas. In fact, because of Covid, a family might be better off living in a DEIS area because they will get the breakfast club or lunch in school. We have had more and more people come to us who have been working and, therefore, they would not be living in a DEIS area. We have had people with mortgages, car loans and energy bills. There are lots of people who have been working. As one family said, a single parent, whether a mum or a dad, must try to juggle everything. Food poverty is a very big issue. As a society, we will have to address that.