Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I was with people who work and volunteer with Crosscare. It is grand for the Deputy to make snide remarks about them. For her information, people have been involved in this work for generations. What is happening at present is that major supermarkets and other businesses are giving absolutely first-class food, which they would not otherwise be selling, in an organised way to Crosscare, which, in turn, gives it to various organisations which support the distribution and giving of meals to people. This means food and other goods - because it is not just food - which would otherwise go into a dump are utilised by, for example, a local community centre which may provide lunches and snacks for elderly people.

Not every child who goes to school without breakfast does so because the family does not have money. In a small number of cases, but it is very significant, the parents may have issues which mean that, unlike most parents in the State, they are not perhaps in a position to prepare food at breakfast time. The children feed themselves. When they go to school, they get a breakfast and a social space, which is hugely beneficial for them. It is not for the Deputy to knock all of this.

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