Parents going hungry to feed their children

Date Published: 31-Oct-2012

There are people across Galway city and county going hungry every day, one of the main charities working at the coalface has revealed.

Those going without food are invariably those who have fell on hard times as a result of the recession – and in some cases parents are forced to put their children’s welfare ahead of their own.

Those who have been made unemployed and have families are most at risk of experiencing food poverty while some are often reluctant to admit that they have nothing to eat.

And it was revealed that a Galway woman turned up at the door of St. Vincent de Paul in the city and told workers there that she hadn’t eaten in three days.

The woman had been made redundant six months earlier from her job and simply did not have the money to buy food.

It is often the case that those who are unemployed spend whatever money they have on electricity or fuel and end up not having enough to put food on the table.

Madge McGreal, Acting Administrator with St. Vincent de Paul, told the Connacht Tribune that it was a situation that was getting gradually worse as the demand on their services increased year on year.

“The stark reality is that there are people all over Galway who are going hungry. These are ordinary everyday people who held down regular jobs and now find themselves out of work with very little money to live on”, she said.

See full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune.