John Lyons (Dublin North West, Labour)
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617. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the measures his Department is engaged in to prevent food poverty; if his Department will continue to work with measures in this regard following the establishment of a new EU fund administered by the Department of Social Protection; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7664/14]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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My Department is involved in a number of schemes/initiatives aimed at addressing food poverty and will continue to do everything it can to combat food poverty in the future.

This year my Department will be distributing 280 tonnes of cheese, 121 tonnes of butter and 250 tonnes of rice to the value of €2.6m to 563 registered charities, under the EU's food distribution programme for the most deprived persons in the Union - the "Most Deprived Scheme".

This will be the last year that the current programme will operate under the Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine in line with the expiry of the EU regulation. From 2014, the European Commission has proposed the introduction of a new Fund to support the provision of food and consumer products for people who are most deprived. The Department of Social Protection will have responsibility for the implementation of this scheme in Ireland and I understand has begun preparatory work for the introduction of the new fund which will have a budget of up to €3.5m when co-funding by the Exchequer is taken into account.

My Department also continues to support and be involved in the administration of the School Milk Scheme and the School Fruit Scheme.

The School Milk Scheme has operated in Ireland since 1982 with the objective of promoting and encouraging the consumption of milk among school children. The Scheme provides for the payment of aid for milk products to school pupils and is co-financed by the EU and the exchequer. In the school year 2012-2013, my Department spent €0.68m on the provision of 2.3 million litres of milk and 1,275kgs of cheese to 52,937 pupils in 1,077 participating schools including nursery, preschool, special schools, secondary and primary schools.

The EU School Fruit Scheme which was introduced in 2009 has been incorporated in Ireland, through the national Food Dudes Programme. The Food Dudes Programme aims to encourage increased consumption of fruit and vegetables by primary school children by changing attitudes and cultivating a liking for fruit and vegetables. Over 87% of all primary schools in Ireland and 419,359 children have participated in the programme to date. The budget for the Food Dude scheme and the School Fruit Scheme in 2014 is €1.9m.