Plaid Cymru has strengthened its
links with Wales' Muslim community by campaigning for the provision
of halal food in the capital's schools. Councillors tabled a motion
at a Cardiff Council meeting calling for halal
meals to be offered to all the
city's schoolchildren by January 2005.
Gwenllian Lansdown said, "It's a fundamental issue of cultural equality. I don't think it's right that if you are born into a Muslim family you don't have the right to a nutritious meal when you go to school.
"It's an important issue because 30% if our constituents are from the Muslim community. We have been campaigning for about a year on the issue."
The campaign is being led by three councillors in the Riverside area. They say that to have halal food available to any child who wants it would cost a minimum of £60,000.
Ms Lansdown said, "It may sound a lot but in the scheme of things £60,000 is very little."
She added that the halal food could be introduced into schools without making the differences between Muslim and other pupils seem greater than before. The councillor said, "I agree there is a strong case for making sure all children are treated the same. You can have chicken nuggets in halal form. You are still able to allow children to be children."
But former Riverside councillor Paul Mitchell said that halal food was already available throughout the capital and that by tabling this motion Plaid Cymru was trying to exploit religious differences for political gain.
Accusing the party of "ghastly tokenism", he said, "It's divisive and naive and cynical and it's an insult to the professionalism of the catering staff."
Ms Lansdown said she would also
support measures to ensure Jewish students had access to kosher food.