Kathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. I wanted to ask this question so we could raise the issue of child poverty. Whenever we get the opportunity to highlight it, I believe that we should. The Minister will be aware that the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth has also been considering the issue of child poverty. Representatives of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul were recently before the committee to discuss access to food and people still being hungry. It struck me when one of the witnesses said that in 2022 we still have children going to school hungry and coming home hungry. Food poverty is a key part of this. I am aware that the school meals programme comes under the remit of the Department of Education and perhaps this is where things sometimes fall down in this Chamber, which can happen when matters come under different Departments. I wanted to raise the issue of food poverty in particular but also childcare. My time is ticking, however, so I will come back to the childcare question later.

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