Debate contribution: Education (Holiday Meal Payments) Bill: Second Stage

Debate contribution by Mr Colin McGrath on 13 April 2026.

MLA

Mr Colin McGrath

Party at the time

Social Democratic and Labour Party

Date

13 April 2026

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Education (Holiday Meal Payments) Bill: Second Stage

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5483838

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I will speak for only a moment or two, or perhaps for even less time than some of the interventions took. In some instances, that would give me the latitude to speak for around 10 minutes. It is said that every day is a school day. I have to say that one line from the debate is burned into my mind, and it is that it is really important that we feed kids. That is so obvious. It speaks volumes that that has had to be said in a debate. We have got ourselves to the point at which we are discussing whether we should feed children. We should take some time to reflect on that. Mr Sheehan made the point earlier, and it was well made, that we cannot identify children as being hungry during term time but not during the rest of the year. I speak from experience from my years as a youth worker, because I tended to work with young people outside of school time. I worked with them in the evenings, at weekends and at holiday time. One thing that they always said that they loved when I took them away for a period, especially on residentials and exchanges, was that they were so well fed. I certainly always retained that as a really important part of the programme, not least because if they were fed, the kids went to bed and slept that night. If they were not, they were on edge, unhappy and unsettled. I therefore know the importance of feeding young people well so that they were satisfied and nourished.

Absolutely. I have experienced children and young people being very hungry at the weekend and at holiday time. I commend the work that Children in NI has done through its Gets Active programme. I know that it has met the Bill sponsor. It has brought groups of young people together to examine the issue. Sometimes, young people can inform us a lot better about issues that relate to them. Rather than all of us sitting in here thinking that we know better, we should ask young people to tell us their thoughts and views and about their experiences. Those young people were bang on the money. They knew exactly what the issues were. They understood their importance. They recognised what happened to their peers when they were not being fed and were coming into school hungry, and they recognised when that was happening, which was at weekends and at holiday time. The youth centre that I am associated with, the Patrician Youth Centre in Downpatrick, has a group that contributes to that programme. I was lucky to be able to join the group and hear about some of its work with experts from other places whom it has met on Zoom meetings and from whom it gets some guidance and support. I know that, because there is that recognised need, many businesses and companies out there support youth organisations and give them money to provide food inside centres. We do not need to discuss whether the issue is important. Rather, we can take it as read that it is and that there are young people in our community who are not getting fed at the weekend or during the holidays. The Bill would go some way to addressing that. I will make one plea that I hope is not taken from an Opposition perspective: let us not politicise the issue. This is about feeding hungry children. Let us not start saying, "No, you've got to pay for it", "No, you've got to give us money" and, "No, you've got to decide whether it is enough". Let us instead thrash out some of the details in Committee and not let the public display of the debate be about scoring points against other parties. The Bill is about feeding children and recognising that if we feed them, we know how much better their lives and opportunities will be.

Yes.

I welcome what the Member said. I understand it. I am not saying that I disagree. I know that the Minister, who is sitting in front of him, has a finite budget and that, if he is asked for extra money to come out of it, he will have to go off and assess that budget to work out where it will come from. I get that, but let us not turn it into a fight in this place about how that is done. There could be extra money from the whole Executive that goes to the Department. It could be suggested that every Department chips in a little bit. One thing is certain: if the Bill goes through, the young people who will be fed and nourished and who will be able to develop will not give a damn where the money came from. They will just be interested in the fact that there is food in their mouths. In 2026, the fact that we have to distil the conversation down to whether we should or should not feed hungry children makes me think, "Are we in a Dickensian society?". It is like being back in the 1700s or 1800s. I hope that we can lift the game above that and find a solution. If the problem is identified as the money, let us find a solution to that, because if we do, we end up feeding hungry children, and then we have a success. I wish the Bill sponsor well with the Bill. I hope that it proceeds. I think that it would be really interesting to be on the Education Committee to be part of it; unfortunately, I am not. I wish the Bill well, and I am sure that it will pass Second Stage this evening and progress to being analysed and, hopefully, passed.

973 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Not flagged

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 15:18 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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