A food bank worker has said that cuts announced by the Department of Education will have a devastating impact on low income families.
Paul Doherty, who runs Foodstock in West Belfast, hit out at the decision to scrap the School Holiday Food Grant scheme alongside the Healthy Happy Minds and Engage programmes.
Speaking to Belfast Live, Mr Doherty said that yet again, it will be local communities left to pick up the pieces.
Read more: Department of Education scrap holiday hunger and counselling schemes
He added: "This is going to have a massive impact and I have already been working this morning to see what we can put in place to support families who are going to be affected by this.
"We are already hearing stories of children going into school hungry or parents struggling to put food on the table or heat their homes so this is going to have a massive impact.
"Once again, it is the community who are going to have to step up and while we are trying our best, we are really struggling.
"Every week we are working with 500 homes across West Belfast and that has increased by around 200 in the last while.
"We are facilitating more breakfast clubs across the city because children are going into school hungry.
"Parents are struggling to feed their children and are going without themselves, so we are working with schools and are trying our best to come together collectively to ensure that these families are protected."
Mr Doherty, who is also running as a candidate for the SDLP in the upcoming council elections, hit out at the DUP for refusing to enter the Executive.
He added: "I understand the challenging financial position that the Department of Education is in but what about the financial situation facing thousands of families?
“There are serious questions about the way the Department has approached this issue but the significant cuts to education budgets come from the British Government and local politicians have been paralysed by the political strategy adopted by the DUP.
“These are the real world consequences of a failing political system. We all have to resist this and we have to dedicate ourselves to building a better kind of society that allocates resources to our children to ensure they have the best possible start in life.”
What do you think of the decision by the Department of Education? Let us know in the comments section below
Meanwhile, a Lisburn principal has spoken of her "horror" at the decision.
Gillian Dunlop was responding to news that 96,000 children entitled to free school meals here will no longer receive the £27 per fortnight paid during school breaks since July 2020.
She said: “I am horrified at the last minute announcement from the Department of Education today that this payment will not be paid to pupils over the Easter holiday period.
“School closes tomorrow and parents will not have budgeted for additional food spending. If we’d had decent notice we could've organised foodbank parcels.
“These last minute announcements are typical of the Department and this latest one follows news that the Engage funding is also to cease.
“This means that hundreds of teachers across the province will have no employment after the Easter break – that amounts to two weeks’ notice. It’s not good enough.
“We can do our best as educators to put pressure on the permanent secretary to redirect funding but we need to hear from parents and communities who are directly impacted by this announcement.”
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