AN INCREASING number of children in Ireland are starting school hungry every morning, a leading charity has warned. Barnardos Ireland chief executive Fergus Finlay said it was receiving anecdotal evidence that many children begin the school week "hungrier on Monday mornings" after spending the weekend at home. "You know what that suggests," he said.
A recent study, commissioned by cereal manufacturer Kelloggs, found that almost 40 per cent of Irish teachers bring food to school for specific pupils they knew are regularly hungry, while one in five staff had seen a rise in the problem. More than three quarters of teachers also believed that children who failed to have breakfast before school performed worse in exams. Separate research by Kelloggs found that one in seven children in Britain and Ireland start their school day without breakfast. Barnardos runs breakfast clubs in schools and provides morning meals for younger children in their early-years centres.
Mr Finlay, pictured, said the clubs had exposed "significant nutritional issues" among many pupils and provided evidence that children need the support it provides. In schools working with the charities, pupils are given breakfast around 45 minutes before classes begin for the day.
Last year the charity Healthy Food for All said one in five Irish children go to school or bed hungry.
Social protection minister Joan Burton appealed for schools to set up breakfast clubs and programmes to provide meals to tackle the problem. The tanaiste's department provides meals for children in around 1,300 schools in the south.