Schoolchildren who are entitled to free meals are going hungry because their schools don't have the facilities or personnel to prepare and serve food.
As a result, it's claimed over 100 DEIS schools out of 850 entitled to funding for the meals programme can't avail of that money.
Organisers of the Health Food for All Conference are calling on the government to provide once-off funding of half a million Euro to ensure schools in disadvantaged areas are able to provide meals to children.
Sinead Keenan is the Co-ordinator of the project:
