Kathleen Funchion spoke on 31 May 2022 about child poverty and escalating food poverty, arguing the problem is longstanding and worsened by recent cost increases. She said many children are attending school hungry and that existing supports do not reach all families in need.
Child food poverty and school hunger
Funchion described growing use of food banks and the reality that many children are not getting three proper meals a day. She recounted situations where children go to school without lunch, or parents keep children home to avoid their embarrassment when they cannot provide a packed lunch or meet increased school trip costs.
Impact on learning and wellbeing
She warned that inadequate nutrition and basic resources harm learning and wellbeing, noting children going in cold or without access to essentials such as broadband, books, uniforms, coats and shoes. Funchion emphasised the pressure and heartbreak on parents unable to provide these basics for their children.
Limits of social supports
Funchion praised the Community Welfare Officer (CWO) service as excellent but stressed it is not available to everyone. She said many people in part-time work are told they do not qualify for CWO payments and therefore turn to charities, with constituents asking representatives to contact St. Vincent de Paul after CWO attempts failed.
Questioning reported childcare savings
She challenged a claim that 38% of people have saved at least half of their childcare costs, saying she disputes that figure and wants to know its source.
Urgency and national reflection
Funchion concluded by urging a pause to consider that very young children and parents in Ireland in 2022 are seriously struggling, and called attention to the human cost of food and child poverty across the country.
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Thanks. I want to commend my own colleague Deputy Coran as well. I really want to focus my points in relation to child poverty and particularly food poverty for children, which is a major concern and just to say it is not a new phenomenon, unfortunately. It is something that we have had for years in this country and even before the most recent increases in the cost of living, the Children's Committee were looking at the area of child poverty and we had people present about the increase in the use of food. banks and just to say that the impact that this would have for children when they're not getting access to proper basic meals, like that's three meals a day and that is the reality for so many families and so many children. And let's just think about that for a second. How would any of us feel if our own children or our family's children were going to school hungry or going to school with no lunch or in some cases parents may be making the decision not to send their child into school that day because they know they don't have the lunch to put in their bag and they don't want them to be embarrassed. When they get the notice maybe about a school trip coming up and all of those costs have increased. There is so much pressure on children then to try and pretend like everything is okay in their world when actually they are really, really struggling. And the impact that this has on them, first of all, if you're not getting adequate food and adequate nutrition, we all know that's not good in terms of learning. If you're going in cold, you maybe don't have access to all of the things that you need in terms of broadband and everything else. So many people take for granted now. So I just think we really need to stop for a second and actually think about we're talking about children here. We're talking about really young children seriously struggling and parents under serious pressure, you know, heartbroken that they actually can't provide food and facilities for their children. Maybe the right books, maybe the right uniform, coats, shoes. And that's, you know, as basic as it's getting. And we're talking about Ireland in 2022. And that's what we're talking about. I want to challenge in the 20 seconds, I've left the point that 38% of people have saved at least half of their childcare costs. I would love to know who they are and where that figure is coming from, because I totally dispute that. And I want to make a point on the CWO is an excellent service, a great service. However, it's not actually for everybody. Often, if you're in any sort of employment, whether it's part time or a few hours a week, you will be told you do not qualify for a CWO payment. It's as simple as that. So to say that people can go regularly to the CWO, very many people, and how we know it is because people are coming to our constituency offices asking us, will we contact the St. Vincent de Paul for them, because they've already tried the CWO. Thank you, Laskan Karla. Thank you.
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