Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Tá dhá cheist agam don Aire. Tá sé ríthábhachtach do Theachta McHugh mar Aire, mar pholaiteoir agus mar dhuine go n-osclódh na scoileanna ar fad i mí Mheán Fómhair. Tá sé tábhachtach dúinne, do pháistí agus tuismitheoirí na tíre agus d'achan duine ar fud na tíre. Cén sórt ciste airgeadais a chuirfear ar fáil chun an oscailt mhór seo a chur i gcrích? Ní bheidh sé saor. Beidh tuilleadh áiseanna, agus b'fhéidir tuilleadh múinteoirí, ag teastáil. Cén sórt ciste airgeadais nó tacaíocht airgeadais a bheidh ar fáil ionas go bhféadfaimis na scoileanna ar fad, idir bhunscoileanna agus mheánscoileanna, a oscailt i mí Mheán Fómhair nó mí Lúnasa?

It is a great ambition of the Minister to open all schools in late August or September, and it is something we need to work towards. What financial package will be made available to make it happen? We know from other sectors that when announcements were made, financial packages were brought forward. That is welcome and it is the right thing to do. It is justifiable for us to ask if the Government is serious about opening schools in late August or September and what financial package it will put in place to allow that to happen. It will not be cheap. The schools environment will be under huge scrutiny from parents, teachers and school managers as to how safe it is. Will the Minister tell us what kind of financial measure the Government is putting in place to allow for a safe reopening of schools? He has been very responsive to us and has been here most weeks answering questions. I again put the same question that is put here every week as to what we can do to ensure schools do not suffer because of a lack of staff. Teachers are being lost over the course of the summer and, in many instances, there is going to be a major impact on the ability of schools to open in September in the way they would like to do.

My second question concerns school meals. The Minister will have the ready-made, go-to answer that this is not a matter for his Department, which I appreciate is correct. He mentioned that he has been talking to Ministers in other countries about what they are doing about reopening schools. That type of engagement is what Ministers should do. Every other jurisdiction in these islands has committed to continuing its school meals programme over the summer. The provision has been extended in Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and, in the most high-profile case, in England. The authorities in all those jurisdictions have recognised that vulnerable children will go hungry if their respective school meals programmes do not continue over the summer. In fairness to the Government, it recognised this issue at Easter, when the school meals provision was continued over that two-week period. Schools, including their teaching staff and SNAs, rallied around to ensure that could be done. The whole school community made it work. However, when I put in a parliamentary question purely to get clarification that the scheme would continue over the summer, I was surprised and disappointed to discover that it is not the intention or plan to do so.

I wish to elaborate on why this programme is needed. In any economic collapse, as the Minister knows, unemployment rises. We have heard that cases of domestic violence have risen as well as cases of addiction, and there is a huge mental health strain on families. In those circumstances, it is inevitable that where families are under huge pressure, including financial strain, decisions have to be made and children may lose out by going hungry. This is not necessarily a comfortable topic to talk about but it is a fact that children are going hungry in society and we will see more of it this summer. What the school meals programme has done is provide regular, routine and nutritious meals for children who need them. I know the Minister to be a decent politician, as is the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection. This absolutely should not be an Opposition versus Government issue that is thrown over and back like a party political football. What I am asking the Minister to do is to be an ally in the call to extend this provision. I am asking him to commit to meeting with the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection or her officials over the coming days and to make an announcement that the school meals programme will continue into July and August. It would be, at the most, a €10 million decision.

This week, we assume, the current Administration will be going out of office. If it is one of the last decisions it makes to extend the school meals programme, it would be an extremely welcome one. The Minister, Deputy McHugh, and the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection would be congratulated strongly right across the House for making that decision. The Minister has the get-out clause of being able to tell me that this is not a matter for his Department and it is somebody else's responsibility. I would like him to say that the point I am making is a valid one and that what INTO and the Children's Rights Alliance are saying about school meals are valid points. I would like the Minister to say also that he agrees with those valid points and that he will take them and do what he can over the coming days. If he were to say that much, it would be a fair thing for him to say. I think he appreciates the unfairness of a situation, to give an example from his own area, where children in Derry are getting school meals over the summer while children in Donegal are not, even though they are both going through the same pandemic and the same crisis. It does not make any sense.

I am appealing to the Government to make the same decision that has been made in Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England. None of us wants a situation where families are struggling and having to make decisions on bills and so on which result in children going hungry. I know the Minister will appreciate that there is an absolutely bone-crushing and spirit-crushing humiliation that goes along with hunger. It is not just the lack of a meal but the lack of a future that goes with it. Resentment and anger can build into that and it really has a deeply wounding effect on the child who is hungry. I would appreciate the Minister' support on this issue.

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