John Lyons (Dublin North West, Labour)
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371. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the measures her Department is taking to prevent food poverty; if she will provide national data on food poverty based on the survey on income and living conditions; and if she will provide this data for the Finglas area of Dublin. [7665/14]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Food poverty can be defined as 'the inability to have an adequate and nutritious diet due to issues of affordability and accessibility.' Food poverty is a complex multidimensional issue and impacts on a range of policy areas. There are many factors which can impact on food poverty: level of income, the cost of food, the availability of healthy food, access to food outlets and education and culture.

There is no official measure of food poverty in Ireland. In 2011, the Department published a technical paper on the construction of a food poverty indicator based on the analysis of food-related deprivation items in the Central Statistics Office Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC), developed in conjunction with the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI). Using this methodology, the latest (2011) figure for food poverty is 11 per cent of the population, as calculated by the ESRI. It is not possible to provide local level data on this food poverty indicator because of the sample size in SILC.

The Department of Social Protection’s primary role is to provide income supports to sustain an adequate standard of living and to prevent poverty. Welfare payments and other social transfers are very effective in reducing the at-risk-of-poverty rate. Recently published ESRI research shows that welfare payments and other social transfers lifted almost 40 per cent of the population out of at-risk-of-poverty in 2011, which equates to a reduction of 71 per cent in the pre-social transfer poverty rate. As a result, Ireland is among the best performing countries in the EU in reducing poverty through social transfers. This reflects the continuation of substantial State investment in the social protection system, despite the challenges and constraints of the economic and fiscal crisis.

In addition, my Department administers the school meals programme as a targeted intervention for children at risk of food poverty and educational disadvantage. In 2013, the Department provided €37 million for food provision to almost 205,000 children, in over 1,600 schools and organisations. The Department also supports Healthy Food for All, a national charitable organisation, which works to improve access, availability and affordability of healthy food for low-income groups, by developing community and school food initiatives.

John Lyons (Dublin North West, Labour)
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372. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if she will provide an update on the introduction of a new fund to support the provision of food and consumer products for persons who are the most deprived; if this will have €3.5million in funding from the EU and Exchequer; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [7666/14]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The European Council has advised that the regulation to create and underpin the operations of this new EU Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived will be adopted by the Council in early March and will come into effect shortly thereafter. The Fund will support national schemes whereby food products and basic consumer goods are distributed to those identified as being the most deprived. Under this regulation, Member States will be required to devise operational plans to procure supplies and support the distribution of food and consumer good using partner organisations (NGOs) and other public bodies to support these efforts.

The Department of Social Protection has been tasked with the development of the operational programme and has been in discussion with the European Commission and other agencies in setting out the implementation arrangements. A key priority for the Department is to ensure the administrative and associated cost burdens associated with the Fund are minimised to ensure that the indicative EU and Exchequer allocation of up to €3.5m per annum is prioritised for the purchase of goods. The programme requires certain tasks to be undertaken in the preparation of the operational programme, including consultation with interested parties and stakeholders. The current position is that the European Commission is continuing to finalise its guidance for Members States to underpin the delivery of the programme. Given that this Fund represent a new and innovative approach to the delivery of such support, a number of matters remain to be clarified before commitments to a particular delivery approach can be made.