You are here:
Food
What does this mean?
![](https://www.oco.ie/app/uploads/2019/09/badge-food-300x300.png)
Your right to food is connected to your right to be alive and to have your basic needs met. You should have safe water, nutritious food, the best healthcare possible, a clean environment and information to help you stay well.
The Government has lots of programmes and campaigns to encourage you to eat healthily, like www.healthyireland.ie
There is a sugar tax in Ireland to make unhealthy sugary foods more expensive.
EXAMPLE: In some schools, there are hot meals and breakfast clubs that help you eat healthily during the day.
![](https://www.oco.ie/app/uploads/2019/09/food-8-12.jpg)
Learn more about this right
Do I have this right in Ireland?
- Article 24 of the UNCRC says “You have the right to the best health care possible, safe water to drink, nutritious food, a clean and safe environment, and information to help you stay well.”
- Article 27 of the UNCRC says “You have the right to food, clothing, a safe place to live and to have your basic needs met. You should not be disadvantaged so that you can’t do many of the things other kids can do.”
- Under the Social Welfare Consolidated Act 2005, it’s the right of most parents to get a payment of Child Benefit per child. This payment is intended to help make sure your basic needs are met.
- There is no specific right to food in Irish law.
Doing a project?
- The right to food is about having a nutritious diet and making sure that food is available, accessible and affordable to everyone.
- The Government can’t force people to eat healthily. They run information campaigns and programmes to help people make healthy choices.
- In 2016, 10% of the population experienced food poverty. This means they were not able to have a nutritious diet because they could not get or afford good food.
- One quarter (25%) of children under 14 in Ireland are obese or overweight. The Government is trying to reduce this through different programmes, like ‘A healthy weight for Ireland 2016-2025’.
- Only 1 in 4 children in Ireland eat fruit and vegetables daily.
- The FAO right to food guidelines have a checklist that helps countries make the right to nutritious food a reality.
- Barnardos’ ‘Rise Up for Children Report’ (2015) highlights that one child in six in Ireland is living in a household experiencing food poverty.
- A Schools Meals Programme was launched in 2015 which allowed students in DEIS schools to get nutritious food at low prices. Breakfast costs 60 cent and a lunch costs 1.40euro.
- Goal 2 of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is to end hunger, achieve food security and better nutrition, and to promote sustainable agriculture.
Links to other organisations
- European Food Information Council – Get some tips on staying healthy from the European Food Information Council
- Safefood – Take a look at the food pyramid and find out more about healthy eating from Safe Food.
- Healthy Food for All – Find out about what food poverty is from Healthy Food for All
- Foodcloud – How much food is wasted globally every year? Find out more about food waste from Food Cloud
- FAO – Food and Agriculture Organisation for the United Nations explaining the right to food